With no trace of the ghost left behind, nobody believed our stories the next day. Not that I blame them. They would be out of their mind, if they took seriously what we say.
But even before that, we were told not to speak a single word of what had transpired. Oh, right. I was getting ahead of myself. Let me go back one night to explain what had conspired.
After the encounter with the ghost, we exited the building. Not only were we struggling to come to terms with what had just occurred, we were worried that another ghost might pop up inside.
When we piled out into the courtyard, we found a group of adults waiting for us. Dressed in dark suits, they were wearing sunglasses for some reason, even though it was already evening and the sun had long since set. I guess somebody wanted to keep them in the dark.
"Young miss," the leader of the men in black suits said, stepping forward. "We received information that you were in trouble. Are you all right?"
That was quite the understatement. Why didn't they help earlier? Truly the blind leading the blind.
"I'm fine," Shu Hong Qiu replied. She nodded in our direction. "See to my schoolmates and make sure they're fine."
Most of us were in shock, speechless at what they had just witnessed. As for me, having been inured to the most horrific specters during my brief stint in the underworld, I treated it as just another Monday. Bowing politely to the guy in the suit, I proceeded toward Shu Hong Qiu. Like me, she didn't seem very distraught. Shaken, pale – though given her supposed jade skin setting, she always looked sickly – but not traumatized like the uncontrollably trembling Lian Hua.
I wondered where Yun Shan was. If the athletic tomboy was around, she would be comforting Lian Hua. The two of them were pretty close, from what I remembered. The shy girl could definitely use some comfort from her best friend right now.
Unfortunately, I could not play that role. Instead, I had other duties. Such as my obligation to the girl in front of me.
"Thanks for the sword." I stretched my hand to return her the peach wood sword, but she shook her head and bade me to keep it. "I felt like a lord. Where did you get it from? It helped us weather the storm."
"Do you always speak like that?" Shu Hong Qiu asked with a scowl.
"Ah, sorry. I just thought it was funny. Don't worry. I wanted to be sunny."
"Stop it, please. It's not amusing at all."
Ah, so came the inevitable fall. I thought it was hilarious overall.
"Don't even think in rhymes, please. I can see it in your eyes."
"Okay, sorry. Anyway, where did you get the sword from?"
"I actually got it from the dojo," Shu Hong Qiu replied, glancing back at the building. She shrugged when I raised an eyebrow. "The kendo dojo was just downstairs. When we were running past it, I remembered how you managed to kick the ghost, and so I thought having a weapon might help you out."
"It did. But why would the kendo club have such a sword...?"
"I wonder?" Shu Hong Qiu sounded nonchalant. "Maybe you should ask them."
"Young miss." The leader of the men in suits leaned over to whisper into her ear. She sighed and nodded.
"Yeah, I understand."
She then turned toward her fellow student council members and Lian Hua. I noticed that she included me in her gaze as well, which had turned pretty stern.
"Guys, I know tonight was…quite the nightmarish one, but please do your best to forget what happened. This is nothing more than a bad dream. When you wake up tomorrow, it'll be like nothing had ever happened."
"You must be joking!" One of the girls shouted. She was the first person I encountered, the one I saved in the corridor. "How can we…?"
"Feel free to keep dwelling on it," Shu Hong Qiu replied, straightening and meeting her fellow student council member's stare. "You can remember it all you want, but will you gain anything from it?"
"That's…"
"That's not the point," a male student council member said. He shook his head. "It's not a matter of whether we want to remember or forget it. You make it sound so easy. But…"
"I see." Shu Hong Qiu looked a little deflated. She turned to her staff. The leader nodded and barked several instructions into his mic. A few seconds later, a man in a suit emerged from the school gate, bearing a case. He placed it next to his mistress, and at her nod, flipped it open. Inside were several vials of what looked like medicine. Shu Hong Qiu continued to watch us. "These are experimental drugs produced by my father's company. They…have amnesia inducing effects. If you don't mind taking the risk, you can consume them and hopefully your memories of tonight would be erased. Tomorrow, you'll return to living your normal school lives again."
The student council members exchanged glances hesitantly. Lian Hua, who was being comforted by one of the Shu family's staff, simply stared up in shock.
"But take note, this medicine is still in its experimental stages. I can't guarantee that it will work perfectly."
"I'll take it," the girl I first met said determinedly, discarding her apprehension. She closed her eyes and shuddered, as if envisioning the hideous figure of Han Zhi Hui. She stumbled forward and reached out for a vial.
The other student council members followed suit, as did Lian Hua eventually. Before she took the vial, she beckoned me over.
"I…just can't." she swallowed. "I would rather just forget everything. But before I do, I just want to thank you for saving my life. For…risking your life and putting yourself in danger. I know that you stayed at the back to help me. If I wasn't there, you could have run away by yourself. But you didn't. so…thank you very much. I don't know how, but I'll definitely repay this debt."
"Don't worry about it," I assured her. "I'm not bothered one bit."
"Even if I forget about the…creature, I'll make sure to remember my gratitude."
"It's not me you should thank," I replied. "Yun Shan was the one who asked. She's much higher in rank. This was but a simple task."
Lian Hua giggled. "Classmate Shu Hong Qiu is correct. You really should stop that rapping."
She then turned away to collect her vial. I kept my distance, feeling a tinge of sorrow. This was the perfect chance to make a friend. If Lian Hua remembered that I saved her life, she would surely count me among her closest friends. Yet I couldn't ask her not to forget the traumatic ordeal she had just been through.
That was fine, though. I didn't save her life to earn her friendship, I saved her life because I considered her a friend. Even though I wasn't sure if she thought the same, I didn't regret it. Worst case scenario, I would just do my best to befriend her again. My goal of making friends had not changed.
While I stood and watched from afar, I sensed the presence of the young miss.
"You're not taking the medicine?"
"No." I twirled the peach wood sword about in my hands, playing with it. "I'm perfectly fine. I've seen worse."
Like people being boiled in lakes of blood and prisoners strapped to torture racks getting their hands sawn off.
"I see that I have no reason to worry about you." Shu Hong Qiu studied me keenly. "Who are you? You're definitely no ordinary student."
"I could say the same to you." I cocked my head toward the others. "You came back to help me against…a ghost. You don't seem as traumatized as the rest. And you came prepared…did you just happen to be ferrying those memory erasing medicine around, or did your staff already anticipate that you need them?"
"Despite our wealth, my family is very…superstitious." Shu Hong Qiu folded her arms and looked away, looking slightly embarrassed. "Before his death, my grandfather consulted with many fengshui divination experts. My parents burn tons of hell money every year and hire Daoist priests to bless our offices or whatever new piece of land they purchase for the company. They're also paranoid about curses and black magic. This isn't the first time I've encountered something that's…beyond the explanation of science."
I eyed the peach wood sword again, but didn't say anything. Shu Hong Qiu nodded.
"You can keep that. I've a feeling you'll use it better than us."
"Didn't you say it belonged to the kendo club?"
"Well, you can return it to the kendo club too if you want, but I don't think they'll notice a single missing sword." I could tell that she was choosing her words carefully, as if she was trying not to slip up. Did she take me for a fool?
"If you put it that way, then I won't be reserved. I can keep ghosts at bay, and give them what they deserve."
Shu Hong Qiu rolled her eyes. "What did I say about rapping?"
*
The next day, everything returned to normal. I resumed my ordinary school life, and for the first time, I felt…free.
I had completed my task. I had eliminated the ghost that Shu Bai Chun sent me back to protect his granddaughter from. Now that it was gone, I didn't have to worry about guarding her and I could enjoy my school life to its fullest.
And I had accomplished that mission in just a single day.
Unfortunately, my story had only just begun.
Wait, what? You thought my story ended here? Now that the big bad had been defeated? Sorry to disappoint you folks, but you're dead wrong. Let me remind you once again: this is a school life story.
The ghosts had never been the main focus. Protecting Shu Bai Chun, while being my primary mission, was never my main goal. My goal was and had always been to make friends and become popular. Considering that in my past life, I don't have many friends. Time to rectify that.
As much as I hated school, I had been given a second chance to redo everything. No, it was precisely because I hated my school life the first time around that I was determined to do everything correctly this time. I was going to correct all of my mistakes – especially the ones that destroyed my social life and turned me into a creepy outcast – and live a fulfilling life that was the complete opposite of my previous one.
Those were the thoughts that were running through my head when I entered my classroom the next morning. Though there was some chatter, nobody was talking about the incident that occurred last night. Whatever the Shu family gave the students involved, it was effective. Not only that, the Shu family seemed to have covered up the incident.
Shu Hong Qiu had sent her staff into the school building last night, and they had located Han Zhi Hui's corpse. A police report was filed, but otherwise everything went according to whatever script the Shu family prepared.
I had to hand it over to the Shu family. They were full of influential people.
Whatever my misgivings, it appeared that everything had returned to normal. Everyone was back to living their ordinary school days without trauma or fear that they were inhabiting the same space where a monstrous specter dwelled only just yesterday. Good thing Han Zhi Hui's ghost only came out at night, or there would have been more casualties. Still, it was disconcerting to see my classmates conversing cheerfully the very morning after I had just survived a life and death battle.
"Ming Cong!"
I turned around at the voice. Yun Shan was striding hastily toward me, waving her hand. She then took me by surprise with a deep bow.
"Thank you very much!"
"What…what is this about?" I managed, blinking in bewilderment. Yun Shan placed a hand on my shoulder. Even though she was a girl and I was a guy, albeit a nerdy one, she was taller than me by a few inches.
"Thank you very much," she repeated, her eyes tearing up. "You protected Lian Hua for me."
"Huh? What? Oh…" I shook my head and struggled to recover my rhythm. "Don't worry about that. I had the situation down pat."
She smiled wryly. "You really are a lifesaver."
"Nah, I'm not. I'm just hot." Then I stopped. Didn't Shu Hong Qiu's family cover everything up? "Wait a minute, how do you know about that?"
"O…oh. Lian Hua told me, of course."
"What did she tell you?"
"That she had a…scary encounter, and that you were there to help her." She sank under my scrutiny and raised both hands hurriedly. "That's all! For obvious reasons, I couldn't ask for details. I just know that she saw something very…terrifying."
She clenched her fists and stared at her feet, visibly frustrated.
"If only I was there! I never should have left first with the rest of the basketball club."
"You did what you could. Leave the rest to me. I helped set the mood. When she comes, you'll see."
"I really can't thank you enough…" she trailed off when she spotted Lian Hua entering the classroom. The both of us exchanged a glance and we hurried over.
"Lian Hua, are you all right?" I asked. "Did you have a rough night?"
"Huh? No. Thanks for asking, though." Lian Hua looked confused. Evidently, the medicine worked. She didn't remember a single thing from last night. I raised an eyebrow at Yun Shan, who hurriedly spoke.
"Really? You called me yesterday, telling me how scared you are. You said that Ming Cong helped you."
"I did?" Lian Hua was astounded. Something passed over her face, then she nodded excitedly and turned to me. "That's right! Thank you for reminding me, Yun Shan! I remember I was supposed to thank Ming Cong for something…I can't remember what it is, but I know I owe him a debt of gratitude."
"No, it's nothing," I assured her. Best not to bring up last night's event. If she had forgotten everything, all the better.
Yun Shan breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, as long as you're okay…"
"Yeah, don't worry. Nothing happened."
"But you really shouldn't stay in school so late. See what happened? If Ming Cong wasn't around to help, you would…"
"I would what?" Lian Hua asked when Yun Shan trailed off. Her best friend gave her a strange stare, then she smiled and shook her head.
"Something dangerous would happen to you. Ming Cong and I won't be there all the time to help, you know."
"What's the worst that could happen?" Lian Hua argued, only to stop. A tremor passed through her face, and she cast her gaze down, pressing her hand to her chest. "What was that?" She whispered.
"Lian Hua?"
"N…no, I'm all right." Lian Hua looked up with a strained smile. She shook her head and took a deep breath to steady herself. Then she jolted up when she heard laughter. Turning around, she caught sight of Gao Fu Shuai and his clique guffawing over something at the front of her classroom. Immediately relaxing, she turned back to Yun Shan. "Speaking of which, I need your help."
"What is it?"
"It's Valentine's Day next week." Lian Hua squirmed shyly. "I would like to give chocolate to classmate Gao Fu Shuai and try confessing."
Something flickered across Yun Shan's face, but she clamped down on it immediately. Not quick enough for me to miss it, though. I felt my heart go out for her.
"If you don't mind me saying," I said clearing my throat. "I think Gao Fu Shuai is a loser. Perhaps you should look for someone closer."
"No." Yun Shan cut me off, sending a warning glare in my direction. She turned back to Lian Hua and held her best friend's hands. "I think that's a brilliant idea, Lian Hua. I'll support you all the way!"
Watching the two best friends discuss romantic strategies, I couldn't help but feel like a tragedy was about to unfold.