Chapter 1: The Ghost I Didn't Mean to See
They say ghosts are real. They say they haunt cities, live inside phones, watch people from mirrors, even enroll in schools. They say it so much it's practically law now. You see a ghost? Report it. Hear a voice in the hallway? File a spirit disturbance form. Get cursed? See the school exorcist before third period.
Yeah. Welcome to Japan, 2025.
And me? I think it's all crap.
My name's Akiro Ren, second-year high school student at the prestigious Ryokuen Academy. Honor student, track team ace, known for my annoyingly perfect grades and what people call "a face that makes girls swoon and teachers forgive missed homework."
Cool, right?
But the truth? I'm bored as hell. This world's obsessed with ghosts, and I've never seen one. Never heard one. Never been haunted. I think it's just society's weird way of blaming stuff they don't understand. Like, your phone breaks? Must be a gremlin spirit. Your dog barks at the wall? Must be a whispering ghost. You trip on a rock? Cursed stone.
Please.
Anyway, things started going downhill the day we were told to sign up for the new Spirit Hero Track.
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"You'd be perfect, Ren!"
That's what everyone said. Apparently, I've got "spiritual potential" or some nonsense like that. I scored high on the school's Spiritual Compatibility Exam — not that I even tried.
The program is basically ghost-hunting with PE credit. The government launched it after the Tokyo Spirit Breakout last year. Kids with talent get trained to become "Spirit Heroes" — basically a mix of shrine priest, soldier, and superhero.
So of course, all the other students jumped on it like candy.
Me? I joined because they promised free lunch vouchers for sign-ups.
And honestly… I kinda wanted to prove how dumb the whole thing was.
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That's how I ended up at the Ryokuen Spirit Grounds on a rainy Thursday, standing in front of a moss-covered stone and pretending — just pretending — to see a ghost.
"Look at that!" I said loudly, pointing dramatically at the rock. "There's totally a ghost sitting there. Super spooky."
Everyone laughed.
Even the teacher gave me a weird look.
Then something happened.
Something no one else noticed.
The wind stopped. The birds went silent. And suddenly I felt it — like cold breath against my neck.
A voice. Faint, almost polite.
"You… can see me?"
I blinked.
I didn't even have time to turn around before my vision went white and my body locked up. It was like someone slammed a door in my mind — and another version of me opened it on the other side.
That's when
Everything went cold.
My body didn't move, not even a twitch. Like time had hit pause — except for my thoughts, which were suddenly screaming, "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!"
And then I saw it.
Not with my eyes. With... something else. Like a dream projected behind my eyelids. A temple, maybe? Foggy, endless, floating in darkness. Stone lanterns. Wind chimes ringing with no wind. A big old tree growing upside down from the ceiling.
And right in the middle?
A kid.
No — not a kid. A figure in ancient armor, about my height but with a face I couldn't see. Glowing eyes, black smoke drifting off him like steam from a hot kettle. His armor clanked as he stepped forward, katana sheathed at his side. His voice echoed from everywhere.
"So. You finally saw me."
I backed up, which in dreamspace apparently meant I floated backwards like a broken Roomba.
"What the hell is this?! Who are you?!"
"I am the lingering soul of Arashi-no-Ko. Warrior of the Eastern Wind. Banished by betrayal. Killed in disgrace. For centuries, I have waited. You… will be my vessel."
"…Dude. You picked the wrong guy."
He lunged.
I didn't scream. I tried to, but dream-mouths apparently don't work like real mouths. He dove at me like a shadow, like liquid smoke — aiming to sink into my skin. For a second, I felt it — pressure, weight, rage, pain, thousands of memories that weren't mine trying to press into my brain all at once.
But I didn't break.
Instead, something inside me shoved back.
I don't know how. I just knew I wasn't gonna be controlled by some ancient ghost samurai with a tragic backstory and edgy voice filter. Not today, thanks.
He roared. I yelled. The dreamspace cracked like glass. I forced him back into a corner of my mind, like shoving a cat into a too-small box.
And just like that, I was awake.
---
I blinked.
I was still sitting on the mossy rock.
Everyone was staring.
A training dummy twenty feet away had exploded into pieces. Like, actual explosion. Smoke. Splinters. Ash.
And I was holding out my hand like I'd just blasted a kamehameha.
"…What."
The teacher's spiritual scanner was blinking red. My classmates looked half-impressed, half-afraid.
"Akiro-kun," the teacher said, fanning the smoke away. "You just registered a Level Four burst. That's impossible without training…"
"Yeah," I said, my voice cracking. "Weird, right? Haha…"
"We're recommending you for Hero Track Elite Class."
"…Huh?"
---
I walked home in a daze.
Actually, I floated. Or maybe I just didn't feel my legs. I couldn't tell anymore.
My brain was going 800 miles an hour. There was a ghost in my head. I had powers. I just destroyed a target dummy using nothing but confused panic and sarcasm.
And worst of all?
I wasn't even mad about it.
See… a few years ago, my family died in what the officials called a "Spirit Collapse." Some freak incident where a ghostly disturbance consumed an entire apartment building. No one survived. I wasn't there. I was on a school trip.
I always thought it was just a gas explosion. Or a cover-up.
But now?
Now I wasn't so sure.
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That night, I sat on my bed, staring at the ceiling while holding a cold can of soda to my forehead. My hand was still tingling from earlier.
I didn't notice the floating samurai chibi until he sneezed.
Yes.
Sneezed.
"You can see me now," he said casually, floating cross-legged in the air next to my desk lamp. "That means our bond has stabilized. Do not thank me. I am your guide."
I threw the soda can at him.
It passed right through.
"Are you seriously a ghost? Like, full-on undead samurai?"
"Correct. I prefer 'honored ancestral spirit of vengeance,' but your term works."
"What do you want from me?"
"You have awakened a rare compatibility. My essence clings to yours. Together, we will train, we will grow, and we will hunt the cursed spirits that infest this land."
"…And I get to shoot laser blasts?"
"Eventually."
"…Cool."
I laid back, heart pounding, thoughts spinning.
If ghosts were real, then the thing that killed my family was real too.
Maybe I couldn't prove it back then. Maybe no one believed me. But now?
Now I had proof.
I had a ghost in my head.
And maybe — just maybe — I had a chance to find the thing that destroyed my family.
And destroy it right back.
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TO BE CONTINUED…