"A-A-A GHOST!" Saki shrieked, completely abandoning her refined rich-girl persona as she hid behind Rin's shoulder.
Even Yui took a large, startled step backward, her eyes wide as saucers. "W-What on earth is that?!"
Haruna stepped in front of Rito, holding her hands up in a placating, calming gesture.
"Please, everyone, calm down!" Haruna pleaded softly. "There's no need to be afraid! This is my friend. And she's the reason for Rito-kun's previous actions."
The girls stopped screaming slowly, though they remained huddled against the walls, eyeing the floating apparition with intense suspicion and lingering fear.
Haruna turned to the mob, her expression serious but polite. "Rito-kun didn't do any of those things intentionally. A ghost attempted to possess his body. But because Rito-kun's body actively resisted the possession, it caused his mind to kind of… short-circuit, which sent him on that wild rampage on pure, blind instinct. He wasn't conscious for a single second of it."
The hallway fell dead silent again. The girls looked from Haruna, to the deeply apologetic Rito, and finally to the floating ghost.
Oshizu floated forward, stopping right beside Haruna. She looked incredibly sheepish, rubbing the back of her head with a translucent hand. Her tomboyish face was flushed with embarrassment.
"Uh... hi," Oshizu started, offering a highly awkward, apologetic bow in mid-air. "My name is Murasame Shizu. Most people call me Oshizu. I'm the ghost that haunts the old school building."
"The old school building...?" Yui muttered, her Morals Prefect brain trying to process the information. "There have been rumours about a spirit there for years..."
"Yeah, that's me," Oshizu nodded, looking down at the floorboards. "I... I really messed up today. I'm not very used to possessing people, and I kind of slipped and fell into Rito-kun's back by mistake. When I tried to steer him, his body just rejected me completely, and he just took off running like a runaway train."
Neither Haruna nor Oshizu breathed a single word about the actual objective of the rampage. Saying 'his body was desperately searching every hidden room in the school to find Haruna' would have opened up a completely different, highly embarrassing can of worms for everyone involved.
"I couldn't control him at all," Oshizu confessed, her voice full of genuine guilt. "He just kept running until we hit the roof, and then he was able to completely blast me out of his body. I am so, so sorry for causing all of this trouble! Rito-kun is completely innocent!"
To prove her point, Oshizu floated a little closer to Saki.
"H-Hey! Stay back!" Saki warned, though her curiosity was starting to override her fear.
Oshizu held out her spectral hand. Hesitantly, Saki reached out and poked Oshizu's glowing fingers.
Swish.
Saki's index finger passed right through Oshizu's hand, meeting nothing but a pocket of incredibly cold, chilling air.
"Whoa..." Aya and Rin gasped in unison.
"She really is a ghost," Saki murmured, staring at her own finger in disbelief.
And just like that, the overwhelming, murderous fury of the mob simply popped like a soap bubble.
It was a strange, undeniable phenomenon at Sainan High School. With alien princesses running around, strange gadgets causing explosions every other week, and bizarre creatures occasionally appearing in the courtyard, the student body, especially the girls who regularly interacted with Rito's social circle, had developed an incredibly high tolerance for the supernatural. Their ability to adapt to absolute absurdity was unparalleled.
The undeniable proof of a real ghost floating in front of them, combined with the explanation of a botched possession, instantly recontextualized everything.
"Well..." Saki crossed her arms, her posture relaxing back into her usual, confident stance. "I suppose that explains it. He did have those really creepy, blank, glowing eyes when he broke into the locker room. He didn't even react to my beautiful body! That indeed proves he wasn't in his right mind."
"Yeah, he looked totally spaced out," one of the bathhouse girls agreed, nodding her damp head. "If he was possessed, then it wasn't really his fault."
Aya chimed in. "It's kind of scary, actually. Getting possessed by a ghost and losing control of your body."
The mood in the hallway completely shifted. The girls went from a furious mob to a group of gossiping teenagers. They looked at Rito with a mix of mild pity and understanding, completely forgiving him for the intrusion now that they knew he had been a victim of a supernatural accident.
"Alright, alright, show's over," Saki announced, waving her hand dismissively at the other girls. "Then let's head back. You people still have to finish drying our hair and we also got our own work."
Rin, Aya, and Saki turned and began walking down the hallway.
The other girls quickly followed suit, chattering excitedly among themselves about the ghost from the old school building, completely dropping the matter of the locker room and the shower room.
Within moments, the massive blockade was entirely gone.
Rito let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding, his shoulders dropping in sheer relief. He looked over at Haruna and Oshizu, mouthing a silent, deeply grateful 'Thank you' to both of them. Haruna smiled warmly in return.
However, there was still one person left.
Kotegawa Yui had not joined the mass exodus. She stood alone in the middle of the hallway; her arms crossed tightly under her chest.
She looked at Haruna, then at the floating ghost, and finally, she locked her eyes onto Rito.
Even with the complete supernatural explanation, Yui was still struggling. Her strict, rule-abiding mind was having a hard time accepting that a 400-year-old ghost had hijacked a boy's body, causing him to stare directly at girls in their underwear. It was absurd and ridiculous.
But looking at the facts, it was also undeniably true.
Yui took a deep breath, her face still dusted with a lingering, embarrassed pink flush. She tried her absolute best to maintain her dignity and her authority as the Morals Prefect, despite the absurdity of the situation.
"Fine," Yui huffed, lifting her chin slightly. She closed her eyes and turned her head away with a sharp hmph. "If Sairenji-san is willing to vouch for this... this spirit, then I suppose I have no choice but to accept that this was an unfortunate, supernatural accident. I will not be writing you up for disciplinary action this time, Yuuki Rito."
"Thank you, Kotegawa," Rito said, bowing his head politely one last time. "I really am sorry for the scare."
Yui opened one eye, glaring at him slightly, though the heat had completely left her gaze.
"Just... just go home, Yuuki Rito," Yui muttered, rubbing her temples as a headache began to form. "Go home before I lose my mind and decide to add a dozen demerits to your record just for the stress you cause me."
"Right. I'm going," Rito agreed quickly.
Without another word, Yui turned on her heel, her pleated skirt swishing as she marched down the hallway in the opposite direction, muttering under her breath about needing to update the student council handbook to include protocols for ghostly possessions.
Rito stood in the empty hallway with Haruna and Oshizu, the suffocating tension finally gone. He looked at his girlfriend, a soft, tired smile on his face.
"Well," Rito sighed, "I guess I should go to the market and buy the beef for tomorrow's sukiyaki."
"But before that, Oshizu-san. I think we need to have a little talk."
*****
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✓ Killed For 100 Years in Hueco Mundo, Aizen Invited Me To Soul Society!
✓ Naruto: Senmei Asahi
✓ Naruto: Uchiha's Intelligence Dealer
✓ Naruto: The Fifth Hokage Is Naruto's Uncle
✓ Naruto: Who Made Him a Ninja?
✓ Bleach: In My Second Reincarnation, I Became The Ninth Kenpachi
✓ To Love-Ru: Spoiler Route [R-18]
✓ Naruto: The Accidental Incubus [R-18]