Magical Girl Phantom Ascension

[SpoopyGhost]

Maybe you should move now… You leap to the side to avoid its massive fist and transform in a flash, grabbing your weapon in both hands. Swinging wide, you slam the bladed end as hard and deep as you can into its arm - though you can't help but wince at the sound.

It works as intended, though, the beast letting out a roar of pain as it begins blindly searching for the target. You're already sprinting away as fast as you can, down another, less well-lit street and away from the intersection, away from the broken window. It doesn't take long for the road to begin juddering under your feet, as the monster gallops in chase. It's catching up fast, and you haven't even gotten that far…

You skid to a stop and turn around; willing something, anything to happen, you swing your weapon wide. To your surprise, it actually works, and a strange curtain of light, or energy, or something, forms in the blade's wake. It's a shimmering and ethereal thing in shades of purple, blue, and green, with a touch of pink and coral in spots. You stare at it for a moment, transfixed, before another roar reminds you of the living freight train bearing down on you.

You roll away to the side, which turns out to be a wise decision; as you regain your feet, there's a massive impact as the beast faceplants where you'd been standing just moments ago; it's sprawled over the light ribbon you'd made, which hangs stubbornly in midair, acting solid despite looking more cloudy from this angle.

Either way, the beast seems stunned, and you can't blame it. There's cracks in the pavement where its bulbous head landed, and the face doesn't appear to be in much better shape, dented in and bleeding a tad. That's going to leave a bruise, you find yourself thinking.

Back up the road, you hear a small zing sound; up in the window, the green girl is standing, arm extended to hold the hoop-blade that just returned. She takes a confident step forward… and then falls sideways out the window, landing in a pile on the sidewalk below, followed by a plaintive "Owww."

You glance back and forth, not sure where to focus, but the monster isn't moving, so you rush back up to the verdette. It takes a bit of fumbling, but you finally manage to help her to her feet; she's swaying a tad, but seems coherent enough as she casts about for her quarry. "Uh, thanks," she says, before finally spotting the downed creature. "Oh, thank goodness. You must be my help, then."

And then she actually looks at you, and her expression undergoes a rapid transformation. Blank confusion, then dawning comprehension and stunned disbelief. Then a flash of pain, immediately covered with fierce rage. Then another realization, followed by calm tinged by lingering confusion. "Sorry…" she finally says, bowing, "You… reminded me of someone else for a moment there. You look just like her, really, but… well no, yeah, that's impossible now."

She takes a deep breath in and out, before opening her eyes again, bowing a second time, and sticking out a hand to shake. "Anyway, thank you for showing up when you did; I thought it was over for me. That thing… hits hard." She winces and clutches her side suddenly, and you rush to catch her, but she bats your hand away. "I'm fine!"

You still find yourself hovering anxiously as she half-stalks, half-limps imperiously away, toward the monster. "Anyway, how much has that shadow thing told you? They've been bugging me about it for a week now, but I only actually accepted an ho- a day ago. Do you have any clue what to do about this thing? They said it can be turned back into a human, but I was… distracted when they explained how."

What to sa-

Before you can respond, the monster suddenly begins moving again, lifting itself up - you realize the ribbon of light is in the last stages of fading away now. More importantly, the beast, despite its lack of facial features, is looking decidedly unhappy as it turns toward the two of you.

"Well that's not good."

What do you do?
> Write-In

 

[SpoopyGhost]

"Well that's not good," the verdette says blandly, and for a second you stop to realize you don't even know her name yet.

The next second, the beast roars and you refocus on the situation at hand. "Talk later, monster first."

"Alright, you got a plan?" She asks, but you're already rushing forward, trying to call back that same feeling from before. A ribbon of light streams from the back of your glowing blade, weaving and folding through the air as you run, and you set about wrapping it as tightly around each of the thing's legs as possible. It tries to pull its fist out of the first loop, but only succeeds in getting itself stuck. The second leg, though, proves to be a problem; it immediately lifts free before you can complete the loop, sharply swatting you away.

Once you've stopped seeing double and the ringing in your ears dies down, you find yourself halfway embedded in the street, in a cartoonishly form-fitting crater. You're not sure if you survived because you're already dead or because of any durability that comes with being a Magical Girl, but you're grateful either way.

Your erstwhile partner is standing over you, offering a hand, and you gratefully take it. "Bravo, bravo," she remarks as she pulls you up. "And for your next trick?"

You don't bother responding, focusing on the monster. Its left forearm is stuck in place by the first and only loop, but that'll fade soon, and in the meantime the beast can still move within a limited range. You're hesitant to get too close, but if you can find some way to immobilize it altogether… It's growling and tugging at the glowing cuff, shaking itself like a bear or a dog. Maybe it's time to give it a collar.

You slash at the air in front of you, creating a flat trail, and leap up onto it. Continuing like this, you wind up with a floating staircase leading up to the monster's broad back. The luminous white shell turns out to be rather smooth and slippery, however, and you have to stab your polearm into a gap between plates and hang on as you make your way toward the head. This is made harder by the fact that its three free forearms are reaching up to grab at you, and the thing is shaking underneath you; as long as you keep a hold on the pole and stay in the center you're safe enough, but it also makes actual progression painfully slow.

But you finally make it, standing awkwardly on the back of its neck, and do your best not to look at the pavement a story and a half below. Instead, you cast about for nearby features around your level; a nearby streetlight seems to fit the bill. "Hey, can you make this guy move closer?" You call to your companion below.

She makes vague grumbling noises indecipherable at this distance, but complies, flinging her hoop at the beast's rear; even if it's not got much force, the stinging cut it leaves is enough to jolt the thing forward. Quickly, you pull out the naginata but leave the blade as close to its skin as you can, leaping off and cutting another bright trail in a loop. You fumble a bit in grabbing at the streetlight, but manage to swing around beneath it and back up, slashing upward on the other side to lock the head in.

And then you realize you didn't make any plans on how to land, and a moment later you land. Painfully. This is the second time in five minutes you find yourself blinking back dizziness and hurt, but you don't have time to relax as one of the free arms falls toward you. You roll aside in time and it slams into the ground, one massive knuckle landing mere inches from your head.

The verdette pulls you up and drags you out of range, before fixing you with a glare. "I could have caught you if I knew what you were planning. Talk to me."

You simply shrug, looking over your handiwork. The beast's thick neck is caught in a half-loop on one side and a hasty wall on the other; it's got gaps and it looks awkward, but it seems to work. The beast's mobility is considerably more limited now, as much as it tries to wriggle free. "You said something about turning it back. Do you remember anything that they told you?" You come out sounding a bit more confrontational than you intended, but there's no helping it now.

She stares blankly at you for a moment before her mind catches up, and she grimaces. "Just… something about… elements… purifying… and we use our rings. I remember that part, at least."

You frown, mulling over the options; time is limited until the monster gets free again, and you aren't confident in your ability to figure this out on your own. Time to ask for help. "Do you know how to contact that shadow person, at least?"

"Ah, right!" She says, lifting up her hand to show her green ring. "I just need to use this." She taps and holds her finger against it, and and it only takes a moment of waiting before another door appears beside you.

"Hello?" The stranger asks as they walk out, then visibly flinches upon noticing the looming monster above. "You haven't taken care of it yet!?"

"Actually, that's why we called you," the green girl explains sheepishly, "I… don't remember how to turn it back to normal."

The stranger stares silently (you can just barely imagine a dumbstruck expression in the corner of your vision) before turning to you with what you think is a questioning glance. You shrug and shake your head, and they smack themselves with a limb in chagrin before finally collecting their thoughts. "Alright, I see. Then there's no time to waste, is there? First of all, this is a process that can be done individually or with others, but the more people you have, the stronger it works, so it would be better if you can do it together; mere proximity increases effectiveness by a great deal." You and the other girl exchange awkward glances but comply, stepping closer and waiting for instruction.

"As for what you actually do, you start by readying your ring toward the corrupted individual." You do so, feeling a bit silly to be pointing at the beast. The entrapments you created are beginning to fade already; this needs to be quick. "Where the transformation requires focusing on the ring and power, for this you want to focus on your subject, and on feelings of care and healing. Also unlike transformation, this leaves you vulnerable until the process is complete, thus why it's best to pacify or immobilize your opponent as much as possible beforehand."

You only barely catch the last part, doing your best to focus more on positive emotions than the fear that spikes whenever the monster begins to slip free a little more. You steal a glance at the other girl, but she's wearing an expression of intense concentration, and the green stained-glass pattern in her ring begins to pulse interestingly. You refocus.

The beast breaks free, slipping out of the now-cloudy light trails right as green and purple beams erupt from your rings to strike it. The world goes white. For a second you find yourself in a void with the verdette and someone else, but before you can comprehend it the third person grabs your shoulder and you find yourself sucked into another memory.

~~~ i=i=i=i ~~~​

He was done for the day, a comfortable tiredness in his bones after a long and rewarding evening at the gym. His friend owned the place, and they were close enough that he'd been given the keys and allowed to stay past closing hours, as long as he locked up on his way out. That's what he was just finishing up now, checking to make sure the door was locked and everything looked in-order through the front windows. With that taken care of, he set off down the street, whistling happily.

"Say, sir," someone said behind him, "I think you dropped your keys."

He instantly whirled around in panic, before realizing they were still clinking about in the pocket of his shorts. It was too late; he didn't see anything unusual before his vision suddenly went black, and all he heard was a dull, confused roar.

~~~ i=i=i=i ~~~​

You regain your awareness to find a rather muscular adult man rushing at you, only to trip on himself and fall flat on the pavement at your feet. The monster's gone, replaced by this shirtless fellow, bearing cuts on his arm and down his spine, and a nasty bruise on his nose.

"And there you go, the fight's over. This one was easy, fortunately, but don't assume they'll all be like that." the stranger says, nodding to themselves in affirmation.

That's over, now what?
> Ask the stranger about something
-> Write-In
> Help the man
> Detransform, let them take care of things

 

[SpoopyGhost]

You immediately kneel down over the man, looking over his injuries, and find something caught in your throat. While scaled down now in proportion, the wounds he bears match up uncomfortably with the blows you'd inflicted; the cut on his arm from your distraction, the blow to his face from when the beast was sent toppling forward, and the stab wounds along his back from staying steady during your approach to collar its head. Next time something like this happens, you'll have to be much more careful than you were here.

As for his actual condition, the wounds are bleeding, not too fast but still fast enough to scare you, and he's firmly unconscious. After a moment of thought, you turn to the stranger. "Can we heal him at all? And if so, how?"

"Ah… You can try, but as far as I know," they pause here, pulling out the box of rings from before, and open it up. Three of the seven spaces are empty now. "That's not part of either of your particular specialties. It may still work, but I can't promise anything."

You mull over that a bit, glancing down at the unconscious man, at a phone booth down the road, and at the other girl. She's detransformed, and after some hunting, pulls a roll of gauze out of the pouch pocket of her hoodie. You raise an eyebrow at this, but she simply shrugs. You turn back to the stranger. "Alright, I want to try, at least."

At their instruction, you place your hands over his upper back, and focus on willing his wounds to close. A purple light glows, brightens… and bursts. You frown, pulling your hands back; the gashes are a bit shallower, and maybe a tad narrower, but it's hard to tell for sure… and they're still trickling blood.

"I've got this," the verdette finally says, gently pushing you aside so she can apply the gauze.

"Alright, I've got an idea," you answer, and set off for the payphone. "Do you have a coin on you?"

Catching on to your plan, she flicks you a 10-yen coin. "It won't last you long, so better make it fast."

The payphone at the corner confirms this, with a posted placard telling you it's 57.5 seconds for every ten yen. It'll have to do. Punching in the emergency number, you calmly route through to the hospital, wait for them to pick up on the other end, and instantly break out into raw panic. "I'm on the corner of" you glance out at the street signs through the glass walls of the booth. "Tenth and second avenue! There's a man here, I saw him get beat up by a bunch of thugs! YOU HAVE TO HEL-" Click. Out of time.

"Hopefully that will get someone's attention," you report, shrugging as you trot back over. "Let's bring him over to the sidewalk."

Once she finishes bandaging him up, the verdette transforms back into her magical girl form, and the two of you are somehow able to carry him over, despite his bulky frame. By the time you've got him set up leaning against a building, you can hear a siren wailing somewhere nearby, the sound reflected by the skyscrapers. "We should probably go, then," The stranger suggests, summoning a doorway and gesturing you through.

The other girl goes first, and as you step through after her you spot the lights of an ambulance turn the corner a few blocks away. He's in good hands.

On the other side, you find yourselves on an overlook outside the city, a gorgeous spread of lights, most intense in the city center you'd just come from, with a finer spider's web stretching to (and a little ways up) the surrounding mountains on three sides. You even have an idea of approximately where your neighborhood lies, though unfortunately you can't say with certainty that you could see your house from here.

"Well, now that that's done, thank you girls," the stranger says. "I have to get back to what I was In the middle of, but I can send you wherever you need to go before that."

"I just want to go home," the other girl says. "It's been… a long day." The stranger acquiesces, and she steps through another created doorway into a briefly-glimpsed bedroom.

"And you?" The stranger asks.

Where to go?
> Home, to get some sleep
> The other girl's room, to talk
> Wherever the stranger is going
> Write-In

 

[SpoopyGhost]

"Ah, I think I'll actually just… go talk to her." At their questioning glance, you scramble for an explanation. "You know, for team-building… and stuff. So we can work together better next time. Right?"

Despite your awkwardness, they take it at face value and nod in agreement. "That's a good idea, actually. Go ahead!"

With a final glance out over the city, you step through the door into an unfamiliar bedroom. Whereas yours is somewhat messy but kind of plain, this one is painfully neat yet undeniably feminine. There's a vanity with mirror (with makeup, lipstick, nail polish, all lined up neatly) next to a desk with a laptop and some textbooks, as well as an overhanging lamp (green shaded, of course) that provides the only illumination, leaving the desk brightly lit and the rest of the room cast dim. There's a window opened wide to let the night breeze (and city noises) in, and a western-style bed in the opposite corner, complete with a handful of plushies in various sizes. Among those is the other girl, curled up against the wall with her face hidden in her knees and arms. "Is the universe mocking me? Is this all some kind of sick joke?" She asks rhetorically.

"That's one way to look at it, but it doesn't have to be the only one," you say, sounding more confident than you feel. "It's kind of been a weird day for me too."

"What the hell do you think you're doing in my room." There's no real bite to her tone, just defeat, as she raises her head to fix you with a tired glare.

Seeing her like this is… painful. Your self-consciousness rises, and you shift your weight back and forth as you try to find an answer. "I just wanted to talk. We didn't get much chance back there…"

"Fine." She doesn't sound fine, slowly slumping back down.

"Are… are you okay?" You instantly wish you could take back the question, since the answer is painfully clear in front of you, but it's too late now.

She chuckles bitterly, making you feel even worse. "No, I'm not. I am very very not okay." You're not sure how to respond to that, but before you can formulate an answer, she continues on. "You look too much like her, so I'm sorry, but I… I can't talk about it."

"'Her'?" Cautiously, you take a seat on the edge of her bed. "Whoever she is, I'm not-" your voice cuts off abruptly, a lump rising in your throat. How do you know that for sure? This girl looks naggingly familiar, even if you can't for the life of you place where or why.

"But you look so much like her." She's suddenly in your face, hands gripping your shoulders hard. Her eyes are wide, crazed and confused and in pain, like an injured animal backed into a corner. "So much like her that it terrifies me. I don't understand why any of this is happening!"

She retreats just as suddenly, looking away in shame. "I… I'm sorry. I'm just… a mess right now. You should probably just go; you don't need to know my problems."

"Well, maybe I want…" you stop yourself again. No need to make this about you. "Nevermind that. Just… talking to someone about this may help a little. If you don't feel comfortable with me… I guess I can understand that, but at least someone should be willing to listen."

An awkward silence fills the room, and for a moment you worry that she's gone catatonic or something. You stand up to leave, but she suddenly speaks up again. "There was this girl in my class. We never really got to talk, but I kind of admired her. She seemed like she always had something on her mind, and I wanted to…" she glances at you, blushes, and looks like she's rethinking her words. "...to get to know her better. But it just never seemed like the right time. I had clubs, she went straight home, and aside from that she always seemed so distant, distracted; I never felt confident enough to pull her away from that."

You feel your stomach tighten, even though you're not even sure you still have a stomach. "Well, why not now?"

She smiles bitterly, tears forming again. "Three days ago, she got run over by a car. She was leaving the city library with her head in the clouds, and some drunk skipped the corner and plowed right over her, from what I heard."

Your heart seems to implode, and you unconsciously finger the sleeve of your dress. That was you, you know it. And it hits you where you've seen her before - The back of the class, a silent and shy beauty you'd sometimes catch staring at you, though she always looked away as soon as you noticed.

In the present she's not done, choking out words even as she cries harder. She's trying desperately to rub the tears away with the sleeves of her hoodie, only to leave liquefied makeup and snot smeared all over; she doesn't seem to care. "What the hell is wrong with me? I didn't even know her, not really. She could have been a completely horrible person… or someone wonderful. And if- if it had been anyone else in our class, I would be sad, sure… but not like this." She takes several wavery breaths, forcing herself to calm down and failing miserably. As she continues, her voice rises in pitch and her words blend together, almost hysterical. "Her funeral was today, and I couldn't even bring myself to come, I just stayed in here crying for hours. Why can't I make myself get over this random girl I never even talked to because I was too much of a coward, why does this hurt me so much, what is wrong with me!?"

Before you can react, she hurls herself backwards into her bed, curling up around a stuffed animal and hugging it so tight you're frightened it may burst. After a long minute of silence, her breathing heavy and slow now, she resumes speaking in her defeated tone from earlier. "That shadow person came to me a week ago, before any of this happened, and offered me the chance to become a magical girl. I thought it was a joke at first, some elaborate smoke and mirrors to make them look like that. Then they doored me through to Paris, France for an hour, and I was convinced. I didn't understand it, but they said I had the chance to save people's lives, do some good in the world. They were also upfront with the risks, though, and said that since none of the other candidates seemed interested, I would likely be going it alone… so I said no."

You set a hand on her shoulder, feeling useless to help as her tears continue to flow. "After she died… I still said no. Yesterday, I said no again. And then today, after I missed the funeral, they came again, and I told them yes. That I accept. That I want to do this. I said that I don't want anyone else to have to feel this way, not if I could prevent it… but honestly, I think I just wanted to do something, anything else. To distract myself and forget all about her. That they then said someone else had chosen to join, so I'd actually have someone else to help me… that was just a bonus."

She scoffs more than laughs, a harsh bark filled with self-loathing. "How selfish can I get? I could have done this a week ago, but it took this for me to get some damn perspective. And then you come along, looking just like her, and it's like the universe is… playing some sick prank, or trying to tell me something, or… I don't know. I don't understand, but she's like a phantom, finding new ways to haunt me when I still don't know why I care so damn much in the first place."

She sits up, looking you in the eyes before hugging herself again. Her mascara is in tatters by now, leaving trails down her cheeks, and the dark circles under her eyes seem even darker now. "Please don't take that the wrong way. I… don't want to try to replace her with you. It's not fair to her memory… and it's not fair to you, either. If… If I do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, please tell me. Stop me. I just can't trust myself right now. And… please don't hold it against me." You nod quietly, hiding the confusion of feelings roiling in your gut.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spill all of that, especially not on you. You must think I'm such a creep… Who knows, maybe I am." And suddenly she smiles, crying again even as she laughs. "I just realized… I never even got your name. I'm Kazane Midori. Who are you?"

What do you do?
> Tell the truth. (Explain that you're Yukimura Kikuko, and you're a ghost.)
> Lie. Lie hard.
-> (Your name is ___ and…)
--> Write-In
---> (You're a recent transfer student to the other high school. The resemblance to this other girl she knew is an unfortunate coincidence.)
---> (You think that girl is your ___, who just died under the same circumstances and had her funeral today.)
----> Cousin
----> Twin Sister
> Flee. (You can't handle this right now. Turn invisible and get out through the window as soon as she looks away.)

 

[SpoopyGhost]

You stare down at your lap without seeing it, struggling to process what you've just heard. She seemed upset earlier, but you had no idea it was this bad… and that wasn't even getting into the fact that you were apparently the source of her pain. It seems incomprehensible that someone you never even properly noticed could be so troubled by your passing, and even she seems as confused by that as you are. Perhaps you could look at it another way, though...

After you've hesitated too long, her expression becomes wary, and she hides her face in her knees again. Gently, you turn around and crawl partway onto the bed so you can reach better, and set a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you," you say, trying to pour as much of your confused gratitude into your voice as possible. "Thank you for caring that I was gone."

"Wha?" She sounds weak, disoriented, as she lifts her head again to fix you with an uncomprehending stare.

"I think most of the others… didn't." you elaborate, thinking back to the funeral and the lackluster eulogies your classmates had given. "So… I'm grateful you noticed." She still doesn't seem to realize your meaning, blinking at you like a sudden inconvenient puzzle more than anything. You finally decide to cut to the chase. "I'm a ghost now. I'm Yukimura Kikuko."

It takes a moment for her to react, but her eyes finally widen in shock, and she stares at you intensely before looking away, gears almost visibly churning in her head. Now it's your turn to feel awkward again as she thinks this over, expressions flickering across her face too quickly to decipher, and you stand up and turn away, pretending to examine her desk as a distraction from your nervousness. How will she react? Will she be glad to have you back, or maybe feel awkward? She did spill a lot on you after all, and you're not entirely sure how you feel about some of-

"That's not funny."

You feel your phantom blood run cold at her tone, but do your best to remain calm as you answer. "I… wasn't trying to be."

Turning back around, you find her standing up, glaring at you with a sullen sort of rage. "Get. Out," she demands, voice ragged, and points at the open window. She's trembling with barely-restrained fury and there's a dangerous look in her eye; you take an unconscious step back. "I don't know what you're playing at, but it's not okay. Get out of my sight, now."

She suddenly winces, clutching at her side. You immediately rush to help, but she slaps your hand away, hard. "Don't touch me!" Despite the obvious pain, she pulls out a medical kit's worth of items from her pouch pocket and carelessly tosses them across the bed, rifling through them in search of something.

"Is there any way I can help?" you offer despite yourself.

She just snarls at you again. "You can help by leaving." You can't help but feel a little defensive at this point, and she evidently notices it on your face, because she turns to you imperiously and puts her hands on her hips. "Are you for real? Trying to tell me you're the ghost of a dead girl, and then you wonder why I'm upset? Do you think I'm an idiot to believe that? I won't repeat myself anymore; get out."

Shrinking back, you finally nod in resignation and clamber onto her windowsill. "What I said, I meant," you tell her, and jump out. Given the string of hostility that follows after, you get the feeling she isn't ready to believe you just yet, or her wound acted up again. Most likely both.

It stings, that she doesn't believe you. You felt isolated enough as it is, when you saw your parents earlier; this somehow makes it even worse. On some level you think you understand where she's coming from; even with all the day's revelations, you still barely believe any of it, and that's without grief entering the equation. At some point everyone has a limit, and it seems she's reached hers. Regardless, her reaction hurts, and you still don't even know where to begin sorting out how you feel about everything else she said. For now, you push it to the back of your mind, and once safely detransformed again, focus on figuring out where you are.

~~~ .oO◯Oo. ~~~​

It takes a bit of wandering, but you finally gain your bearings - her neighborhood isn't too far from yours. Still, staring up at your house, you don't quite feel ready to turn in just yet, a lingering feeling (Unease? Sadness? Simple restlessness? You can't quite place it, exactly.) stays your hand.

But what else is there to do? Whatever the stranger was doing, surely they'd be done by now, right? Maybe you could summon and talk to them. Or, another thought strikes you; much earlier, Death said you could walk through walls, even though as a ghost you've been surprisingly… tangible. Perhaps there's some sort of trick to that? Your high school should be empty at this hour; maybe you could head there and try to figure that out. Then again, making your way back into your room might be best for now. You don't know if you need sleep anymore, but despite your earlier feelings you kind of want to draw something, to calm your nerves and get your mind off everything else.

What do you want to do now?
> Practice 'haunting' the school
> Speak with the stranger
> Doodle and get some rest

 

[SpoopyGhost]

After a long moment of consideration, you decide you're not quite ready to call it a night just yet… and you want to try to figure some other things out as well.

The walk to school, comfortable by day, becomes strange at night. The lights downtown are reflected off lower clouds that recently rolled in, creating a burning citrine glow that bathes the sky but fails to reach the ground; the end result is the dark outlines of familiar homes and buildings framed against the glaring orange. A feral cat dashes across the road, startling you, and you find yourself watching the darkness warily. Your paranoia builds and builds until it reaches a peak, suddenly reminding you that you're likely the most spooky thing in the vicinity... If only it actually felt that way.

Soon enough, you arrive at the school, locked up and dark at this hour. You first spend some time doing a circle of the outside, trying to find any back entrances that may somehow still be open even now, but that proves as fruitless as you knew it would be.

So you return to the front doors, pushing against them and trying as hard as you can to will yourself into intangibility. All you succeed in doing is making strange faces for several minutes, and in the end your wrists hurt from the force you applied.

Hmm.

After a quick glance around to ensure nobody's around to witness, you transform into Magical Girl form and try again, hoping it'll somehow make you more… magical. Unfortunately, this strategy doesn't net you any better results. So you detransform again, and try to focus on your ring. And then you try thinking about the fact that you're dead, and what your grave looked like. And then…

You lack a timepiece to give you an exact number, but it feels like at least an hour has passed by the time you finally give up, slumping down against the door, exhausted. And for the first time today, you let yourself stop thinking. Everything; your death, your new job, the stranger and the reaper, your family, the monster and the man inside, Midori and her strange distress; all of it fades away temporarily. You're tired and sore, but in the brief numbness you also feel… peaceful. Like when you were alive, when your biggest concerns were homework and a particularly tough stage in one of your games, and your perceptions of reality weren't being torn down every five minutes. It's a nice feeling.

When you open your eyes again, you're looking up at the ceiling. You're flat on your back, having fallen through the door, and it's still halfway through your torso. You quickly scramble for purchase and pull yourself the rest of the way through, panicking in fear of a sudden bisection that never comes. Your hands sink a little into the floor as you do this, but there thankfully seems to be a limit keeping you from falling through, and you're able to get back to your feet.

You're in the main entrance area, with several benches and shoe cupboards. Usually lit by sunlight through the high windows, it's unnerving now, the murky darkness impenetrable even to your light-starved eyes. The windows on the opposite end at least provide a trickle of the orange glow from outside, but it does little to help.

After a moment of blind stumbling, you finally get fed up and transform again, (It's almost alarming how, amidst everything else, this is becoming increasingly natural to you.) creating another glowing streamer from your weapon to illuminate the space.

Instinctively, you make your way to your shoelocker, unlocking the combination. It's empty already as you suspected, but you can't stop from feeling disappointed. Fortunately, you weren't in the habit of storing personal effects there like some of your classmates, so you weren't at risk of losing anything, but it also makes you wonder what you were expecting. Maybe a love letter? You quash the thought immediately, mentally scoffing at yourself for entertaining such an arrogant, unlikely notion. You wouldn't even know what to do if you got one, and that was before the matter of your death. You always had your art and dresses on your mind anyway, and it wasn't like anyone else even cared about you to begin with…

The image of Midori staring at you from the back of class flashes to mind, but you immediately quash that too. You don't even know her too well; perhaps it would best to just pretend for now that you heard nothing.

Anyway. You slam the shoelocker shut again, sighing in sudden melancholy. It's still sinking in, but you're closer to realizing the meaning. This is just another reminder that you're not part of this life anymore. Trapped instead in this strange limbo, no longer alive but not quite dead either. An unfortunate limbo with blood-red skies shining through the windows…

"Thinking you lost something, or just feeling nostalgic?" You whirl to find a familiar figure sitting on the bench opposite you. Despite her amused tone, her expression is more downbeat, even pitying. "I'm sorry, for what it's worth. I had no power over the circumstances of your death, but leaving you here like this, even if for a good cause… I didn't think of how much of a torment it must be. The souls I ferry tend to miss home as well, but I suppose it's a blessing, in a way, that they must move on so soon. So for that, I apologize."

A flash of irritation hits you and subsides as quick as it came, and you reluctantly accept the sincerity in her words. "It's… fine. It's better off for everything this way, right? At least my stupid death will have some meaning." Your words sound hollow and you both know it, so you do your best to inject some cheer into your tone. "Anyway, what brings you here?"

Death gives you a concerned look, but soon follows suit in hiding her clear misgivings. "Well for one thing, I wanted to compliment you on your new duds; I didn't get to see them last time." She reaches out to finger the hem of your wide sleeves, where the shiny purple transitions gradually and seamlessly into a translucent seafoam shade, with a cloudy look surprisingly similar to the light trail you created. "So this is what they look like for you. I'm kind of envious, almost." She casts a wry glance at the hellish skies outside. "I could never pull the look off, myself, but I love picking up people dressed with color. Soldiers are the worst with all that drab camouflage, but even outside of that, people tend not to dress their best for dying… unless they got killed at a costume party or something."

She sits back up and clears her throat slightly, suddenly remembering herself. "But that's not what I'm really here about. There's actually something I wanted to ask you to help me with taking care of, just upstairs here. It may be dangerous to even attempt to tackle until you've got more experience, but also isn't too urgent. It would be better to take care of sooner rather than later, but it shouldn't start directly affecting the living world for at least another week or two, by my estimate. Doing it would also be separate from my earlier offer, too; it won't lock you into helping with my other requests, so you could do this and still turn me down on everything else, if that's what you decide. Just wanted to let you know now."

The fact that she seems to be skirting around explaining what the request actually entails has you on edge, but you decide to consider your options.

How will you respond?
> I'll do it now. (Better to get it out of the way sooner than later.)
> Not just yet. (I want to make sure I know what I'm doing first.)
> No, period. (Something smells fishy about this; better steer clear.)

 

[SpoopyGhost]

"Hmm… Well, I'm already here, right?" You point out. "May as well just get it over with now."

"If you're certain."

"I am." You're not entirely sure you're ready, actually, but still feel this is the most sensible course of action. "So what exactly do I need to do?"

Death stands up and stretches casually, before beginning to explain. "There's a corrupted spirit gestating up in the fourth floor. It's in a sort of limbo between 'my' world and the living world; else I'd take care of it personally. I'm not sure exactly how dangerous it may be; best case scenario is that it's a simple poltergeist, but the worst case… well, I'm sure that as a highschooler, you've probably snuck out to at least one horror movie above your age rating, no? It could be harmless, but since it's taken up in a more public space than usual, it would be bad to give it the chance to do anything."

You shiver, thinking of your classmates. "So that's what I'm dealing with. What am I supposed to do?"

She just shrugs at you, grin carefree but eyes serious. "I have no idea, but I'm sure you can figure something out." She cracks a grin and does an about-face, walking down the row toward the front, hands clasped behind her back. "And if you do get overwhelmed… there's no shame in running. This thing will be able to hurt you in a way merely physical opponents can't. Step carefully."

You nod in understanding, then follow it up with a hasty bow. "Thank you." When you stand back up, the world is back to normal, with no sign of her ever having been present. Time to head upstairs.

The fourth floor of the building was reserved for teacher's offices and club rooms. Being part of the 'going-home club,' you've never actually been up there yourself, aside from running an errand for one of your upperclassmen one time. It's not drastically different from the lower floors anyway; just offers a better view out at the neighborhood.

Once you've tromped up the stairs, it isn't hard to detect your quarry's presence; despite the wide windows on one side letting in the orange cloud-glow from outside, the shadows up here are thick and enveloping. At the far end of the hall, there's a patch of blackness watching you. This isn't like the stranger, whose brand of darkness seems more like a cluster of dark clouds or a shady spot on well-lit day, concealing something real in the sudden contrast; instead this is like the essence of midnight itself has taken form. You stare it down, and you can tell it's doing the same for you. And then it moves.

What do you do?
> Write-In

 

[SpoopyGhost]

Your nerves are on a hair-trigger, and the moment it moves you instantly react, swirling your naginata before you to create a spiral of light that you hope will act as a shield. The dark entity surges forth but then shies away from the glowing barrier, and you breathe a sigh of relief… until it moves to simply go around it.

That still gives you some time to react and dodge its sudden lunge, and you leap backward awkwardly, and fall through the wall.

You blink in confusion for a moment, before looking around and realizing what happened. You're inside one of the club rooms now; Art, if the covered easels and unfired pottery are anything to go by. The place looks eerie at night, and the black liquid seeping in around the door isn't helping. While the entity works its way in, you take a moment to move some of the paintings-in-progress to the side, clearing a space in the center. This could get messy, and while you were never part of the club, you know you'd hate if your own projects got wrecked; best to try to save anyone else that trouble.

You're reminded of the stakes when the re-formed corrupted spirit lunges again; you manage to swipe out a light trail to deflect it temporarily, but mangle a desk in the process. You cast about the room, searching for inspiration…

What To Do?
> Trap it. (Try to lure it into a pottery dish… somehow… and seal it in.)
> Dazzle it. (It seems to dislike the light constructs. Maybe you can use that.)
> Purify it. (Just cut to the chase and try to use your ring on it.)
> Run away. (Escape the club room and face it on better ground)

 

[SpoopyGhost]

It seems to dislike your light barriers, that's for sure. Stepping out into the space you'd cleared, you begin making more, swinging your blade about and trying to herd the shadow in. It doesn't go quietly, spiking darkness again and sending tendrils through the gaps in your trails; a coil manages to graze your fingertip, and even the light contact sends a jolt of pain through you. This gives you a bit of extra motivation, and you deflect its ensuing attacks and press on in, weaving more and more barrier around it.

Then something strange occurs; a section of your web of light begins turning color, detaching from the rest of the web; you have a half-second to realize it vaguely resembles a written character before it abruptly implodes, zapping at the spirit as it does so. It leaves a big gap in your barrier, but the shadow is too stunned to take advantage of it; with it seemingly immobilized, you decide now is a good time to use your ring, trying to muster up as much positivity and compassion as possible. As with the beast earlier, a purple beam shoots forward to connect…

You find yourself in the white void again. A figure stands before you, smoke rising off a humanoid figure; they almost resemble the stranger at first glance, but there is a subtle difference as well, and the darkness appears to be slowly evaporating, more distinct features gradually swimming into focus under the surface. You hesitantly reach forward to take their hand…

~~~ i=i=i=i ~~~​

The other was late, and she was early. The promised meeting never occurred, and she was starting to wonder if she had been duped. So she stood in the hallway, looking out over the grounds and toward the skyscrapers in the distance, wondering whether she should feel sad or angry about all of this.

She didn't get the chance to decide, a sudden darkness enveloping the hall. The other had arrived, yet there was something wrong; ultraviolet lightning crackled between their fingers as they wore a sinister smile. She tried to run, but a bolt struck her, and her consciousness began to fade. The other was saying something in a deceptively sweet tone, but the words blurred together as the corners of her vision began to darken…

~~~ i=i=i=i ~~~​

When you come to, it is to find yourself in the clubroom again, no sign of the dark spirit to be found. You glance about a bit, to make sure there's nothing else to do, and make to leave.

Suddenly, the world changes around you, and this time it doesn't take long to realize you've been pulled into Death's dimension once again. She's standing before you with an expression filled with equal parts intrigue and worry. "Good job!" She says, glancing over at where the corrupted spirit had been. Where in the normal world you hadn't seen anything, here you find yourself looking at a bright floating ball of light, the last dregs of shadow evaporating from it.

"So, what just happened here?" You ask. You have a suspicion about the sphere, but you want to make sure you understand.

Gently cradling the orb, Death explains. "As I said before, this was a Corrupted Spirit, the result of someone who was killed by dark magic. Specifically, it looks like you fought what was going to become a wraith; more dangerous than a poltergeist, but significantly less so than a spectre. Usually they show up in old barns, abandoned churches, ancient temples, where the sorts of rituals they were sacrifices for were held. I… don't know what this one was doing in a school, of all places. But, at least the danger to the students is over, and I can finally carry this poor one on to peace. And are you okay?"

You glance down at where your finger had been struck; there's a surface-level scratch, but it doesn't seem to be any more severe than that. "Yeah, I'm good," you answer. "If anything this was surprisingly easy."

Death nods. "I'm glad. This could have turned out much worse, but it seems your powers do work on it after all. All's well that ends well, right?" She seems uncertain if that really is the case, but you just nod, barely listening. A sudden and real wave of exhaustion has suddenly hit you, and you decide to head back home as soon as this conversation's over. "Anyway, remember my offer earlier? If you agree to it, this would be a big element of it; hunting down and excising corrupted spirits that are beyond my reach. I can't promise they'll all be as easy as this turned out, but now that we know it can be done, it would be immensely helpful both to me and to the living world as a whole. So… would you like to keep doing this, when you're not doing your usual thing?"

What To Do?
> Accept her offer (Well, if it's just more ghost-hunting like this, it should be fine. It was scary, but ultimately wasn't that intense…)
> Turn her down (It may have been surprisingly simple, but this could have just been beginner's luck. You don't want to take your chances with this…)
> Delay further (You're too tired to make an important decision like this just yet. You're still adjusting to everything as it is…)

 

[SpoopyGhost]

You mull it over for a few moments, but the conclusion seems fairly clear. "What's the harm? I'll do it. Not right now, if you don't mind, but whenever you need me…"

She smiles and claps her hands. "I'm really glad to hear that. I'm still sorry for all the experimentation, but this will be a huge help. Thank you!"

You shrug. "It's fine. More stuff to fill the time, now that I'm… you know."

She tilts her head in concern, but nods understandingly. "At any rate, I'll be sure to make it worth your while, too. My ability to impact the world of the living may be limited, but if you need help or advice or something, or just someone to talk to, I'm here anytime. I may have let you go so I could have a helping hand, but if that's alright with you, I'd like to think we can be friends now as well."

You feel your eye twitch for some reason, but do your best to play it cool. "Uh, I don't mind…"

"Excellent. And… thank you." She extends a hand toward you, beaming happily, and you hesitantly shake it. Your grip is somewhat limp, but she doesn't seem to notice.

After that, you're once again deposited into the empty clubroom, (less gloomy-feeling now that the corrupted soul is gone) and after detransforming, set about returning the desks and canvases to their original locations. The desk you accidentally destroyed earlier, you push into a far back corner in the vain hope nobody will notice. Hopefully once it's inevitably discovered, it'll be chalked up to vandals or something.

From there you spend a good while trying to walk through the wall again, but no matter how much you strain or focus, you can't get through. The door's locked, too. It's only when you're leaning against the window, wondering if one of the handful of still-lit windows in the neighborhood is Midori's, that you suddenly find yourself plunging through and to the sidewalk far below.

Owwwww.

It hurts just as much as you'd expect a fourth-story drop to, (a lot) but you stand up to find yourself visibly undamaged. This is going to take some getting used to… though maybe it's better that you don't; even if it doesn't affect you the same way anymore, pain is still painful.

After that, it's a short but achy walk back to your house, and a long time spent trying to figure out how to get in. You still have no idea how to control your phasing through things, so you ultimately opt to try to find a window to sneak into. At this point you're too exhausted to feel weird about breaking into your own home like some robber; just irritated by your parents' dedication to making sure all the windows are closed up properly.

You do finally find an entrance in the small slot window to the laundry room, left hanging open just enough for you to pry it the rest of the way, and slip through, grateful for your petite figure. It's still an awkward fit, and you land with a clang on top of the dryer, but it works. After several tense moments spent waiting and listening in case your oh-so-graceful landing woke anybody up, you carefully lower yourself to the floor, slip through the door, and slither upstairs into your room.

The surroundings are mostly unchanged from when you visited earlier in the evening, but you notice that some of your sketches on the desk have been sifted through, and your mom's perfume hangs in the air. She must have been in here earlier. Your heart aches, but you quickly smother the feeling. What can you do at this point, somehow suddenly stop being dead?

...

It suddenly hits you like a freight train, shattering the emotional autopilot you've been on all night, and you begin giggling. A little bit at first, but it gradually increases in pitch and volume until you're laughing hysterically, at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. "I'm dead!" you cry out gleefully, throwing your hands up to the ceiling in an expression of pointlessness. "I'm a freaking ghost now! I can walk through walls and shoot sparkly lasers now, isn't that amazing? And… get this, I'm friends with the grim reaper, and know a creepy shadow person who's actually just a complete moron! Hahahaha! There's some girl I barely knew existed who gives more of a damn about me than the rest of the school put together! I beat the crap out of a giant muscle monster and some spooky blob of blackness!" You're wheezing now, bent over and slapping your knee; it's all just too much.

You spring to your feet with an unhinged grin, and charge into your brother's room across the hall, jumping with all your might to land on the end of his futon with a massive FWUMP. He instantly shoots upright, staring through you with a terrified expression. "GUESS WHAT?!" you scream madly into his face, knowing he can't hear any of it, "I'M DEAD NOW! THIS IS MY NEW LIFE! Or… death, I suppose… THIS IS MY DEATH! I MET SOME GIRL WHO'S ALSO GOT SOME SERIOUS ISSUES, AND TOGETHER WE FIGHT CRIME! WHAT IS THIS? WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? I WANT TO GET OFF THIS WILD RIDE, PLEASE!!!"

Blinking blearily, he slumps back down and turns over, muttering about 'stupid nightmares.' By this point, though, you're already dancing back over to your room, slamming his door shut on the way, and begin twirling across your futon while laughing maniacally. "I can walk through walls but I can't live my liiife" you chant in a sing-song voice, staring at nothing in particular.

The sudden burst of energy abruptly sucks away faster than it arrived, and you fall backward onto the soft bedding. Your feet are by your pillow while your head is at the bottom; the ceiling looks simultaneously comfortingly familiar, yet also alien and strange, that which you know warped into incomprehensibility by a new perspective. Just like your life in that regard, you suppose.

You sit up and curl into a ball, rocking a little bit. "This is all just some strange dream, and I'm going to wake up tomorrow to find none of this happened." Now you understand how Midori must have felt, at least a little bit. "This was all a dream and I'm going to wake up like normal and piss off my brother like normal and go to school like normal and avoid anyone with green hair." You keep repeating it, until you almost believe it, and the words lose all meaning and become mere sounds. You're even whimpering a little, you realize.

And somewhere along the line, exhaustion takes you, and you rest.

~~~ .oO◯Oo. ~~~​

While a recently-deceased teenager undergoes a violent existential crisis, other lives march on elsewhere…

Staring in defeat at the starry night sky, an emotionally exhausted verdette struggles to hold on to her anger...

A young woman looks down at the ring she's recently been granted, having made up her mind but still uncertain of what to expect the future may hold…

Someone snores softly, the day's work completed and waiting on their desk. They sleep with a confident smile, certain they know their life's course…

Grinning in excitement, a girl stares at the screen, unmindful of the extreme hour as she begins to tap at her keyboard. She stops to rub at her eyes, but refuses to sleep until she's finished…

Laying across her roof, someone else watches the night sky without seeing it, just feeling the beating of her heart and the storm that's been raging within for years…

And atop a skyscraper far far away to the south, a distorted figure spies a flash of orange on the horizon. A hazy colored shape hovers over one shoulder, whispering that this is the third. In the time it will take to reach the city, all will likely be ready. The figure lithely slips off the edge, and begins journeying. The hunt has begun.

End Of Episode 1​