Chapter 45
The gymnasium ghost screamed and thrashed as if in panic.
It seemed to be angry at itself for letting its guard down.
I first hugged Senior Noah in his black cat form and said to Dante, who was holding the ball.
“Let’s get out.”
Dante followed me out of the gymnasium with a dazed look.
“Arrrgh! Aaargh!”
The enraged spirit started chasing us as we began to run away.
“What on earth is that?”
Dante’s bewildered questions continued. He was running effortlessly, not even out of breath or breaking a sweat.
Huff, huff.
I was too busy panting to answer Dante’s questions.
“Senior! Over here!”
Easton, who was guarding the gymnasium entrance, waved his hand.
But my pace was gradually slowing down. This is bad. At this rate, I’ll be caught…!
Suddenly, my view changed.
Dante handed me the ball, then lifted me up like a princess, with the cat still in my arms.
I opened my eyes wide in surprise.
Dante then increased his speed, running much faster than before.
“Arrrgh—!”
The spirit’s howl seemed to be getting farther away. The gap was widening.
“Hurry!”
With Easton’s urging, we barely made it safe outside the open gymnasium door.
“Senior, close the door!”
Easton, who had come out after us, shouted. I got down from Dante’s arms and closed the open gymnasium door.
Bang—!
We could hear the sound of the spirit violently hitting the door from inside.
Poof—
Soon, the ball I was holding turned to dust and disappeared, and I felt a pain in my forearm.
A cross tattoo had appeared and then vanished.
The evil spirit had been eliminated.
“What? Wow. It’s real.”
Easton, who must have noticed the cross tattoo on my forearm, rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
“How is this possible? Eliminating an evil spirit? Wasn’t sealing them the most a human could do?”
Easton’s reaction wasn’t much different from Father Cesario’s initial reaction.
“Senior, are you really a commoner? Seriously?”
He kept asking.
“Senior, no matter how I look at it, you seem like a shaman. Shaman power is inherited, so when a shaman is born, it’s reported to the association. The only shamans left in the current era are nobles, you know.”
“I’m not a shaman. I don’t even know exactly what that does.”
“It really seems like you are, though.”
Senior Noah, who was about to speak up, saw Dante and quietly closed his mouth again.
I guess it wouldn’t be right for a cat to speak here.
Easton and Father Cesario say they know that Senior Noah can freely possess a cat’s body.
Even they say they can’t understand the senior’s cat speech, though.
“Can I ask now what everyone’s been talking about? What on earth is going on? What was that thing in the gymnasium earlier?”
Dante, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, raised questions. Easton turned to Dante with an ‘oops’ face.
“Senior Wellington was really amazing, though.”
He gave a thumbs up, glanced at us, then turned tail and ran away.
That guy…!
Dante and I were left alone.
Ah, including Senior Noah in my arms, there were three of us.
I answered him with a resigned face.
“You saw it too, right? It was a ghost.”
“……”
He seemed to not believe my words even though he saw it with his own eyes.
Dante was silent for a while.
I watched him for a moment, then asked back.
“What about you? Why were you in the gymnasium at this hour?”
“…I was practicing.”
His response was slow.
“I guess I’m not fully awake yet. Maybe what we saw today was just us mistaking something else.”
It was evasive of him to say that after such a clear exchange of arguments.
But I understood all too well why he couldn’t believe this situation.
It was better this way. If he had asked seriously, I would have been at a loss for how to explain.
“Anyway, good job.”
I patted his shoulder encouragingly. How should I put it? It’s like we built some inner closeness.
Unexpectedly, Dante seemed to feel the same way, as he didn’t reject my encouragement and just nodded.
Seeing that, I suddenly remembered another matter.
I asked with a bit of anticipation.
“Have you changed your mind now?”
“What?”
“About teaching me cricket…”
“Sorry, but no.”
Dante firmly rejected once more and added,
“Just go to sleep.”
“You look like you need sleep more than I do.”
His dark circles were really pronounced.
As I watched Dante’s retreating back, senior Noah quietly said,
[That guy seems strange.]
“What’s strange about him?”
[…I sense an odd aura, can’t you see anything with your eyes?]
At the senior’s question, I tilted my head and looked at Dante’s back.
I couldn’t see anything unusual.
“I don’t think so.”
[Then we’ll have to wait and see for now.]
Senior Noah’s words were meaningful, so I just kept staring at Dante’s back.
Drip drip—
That’s when my nose started bleeding again.
It seems I overdid it trying to solve this gym ghost story.
Meow.
Hearing a cry from below, I looked down to see senior Noah holding a handkerchief in his mouth.
When did he even bring a handkerchief?
I took the handkerchief from the cat’s mouth and used it to stop my nosebleed.
[You’re not really sick, are you?]
“No, I’m not.”
[You’re really frail.]
Senior Noah said, shaking his head.
[Besides, you said you wanted to learn cricket, is there a reason you have to learn from Dante specifically?]
“Ah. No, not really, it’s just that Dante was the only person good at sports that came to mind. He’s a sports scholarship student after all.”
[…..]
Senior Noah closed his mouth with a displeased look at my answer.
Why is he acting like that?
[There’s someone right in front of you.]
“Huh?”
[In sports, studies, and all aspects, there’s no one in this school who surpasses me.]
Wow. Such confidence.
But coming from senior Noah of all people, it was convincing.
His plain tone made it feel even more so. He wasn’t even boasting. It was as if he was just stating facts.
“Can you really help me? I’m really bad at cricket. I’m terrible at anything physical.”
[I’m good at teaching too. It’ll be fortunate if you don’t get nosebleeds while learning cricket.]
Senior Noah sighed as he looked at me standing there blankly, holding my nose.
That’s true. I was a bit worried about that too.
Still, I was so relieved that I could finally learn cricket separately.
[But I tend to be strict, so be prepared. And bring several handkerchiefs.]
The handkerchief advice was probably because I frequently get nosebleeds.
And I should have paid more attention to what the senior added next.
Until then, I had no idea.
What kind of hellish training awaited me.
🐈⬛
Thank you for reading! ♡
