"Amamiya-kun, why are you blushing all of a sudden?" Shimizu tilted her head and asked curiously.
"I just took a shower, so it's normal to be flushed," Amamiya replied calmly as he handed the phone back to her. "But I think I've figured out the problem."
"Oh? What is it?" Shimizu's interest was piqued.
"Come with me," Amamiya said, standing up and heading toward the bathroom.
Shimizu followed him.
There was a half-length mirror mounted on the wall. Amamiya stood in front of it, his reflection perfectly visible. Shimizu, however, was nowhere to be seen—only the phone she was holding appeared to float in the air.
"Ah, just like the urban legend about ghosts not appearing in mirrors?" Shimizu was quick to catch on. "So, the reason I couldn't video chat with Kaguya-chan isn't because of the phone—it's because of me?"
"Exactly," Amamiya nodded. "It seems that's the case."
"Let's test it. Come closer for a photo," Amamiya suggested, pulling out his phone.
Shimizu moved next to him and playfully raised her right hand, making a peace sign beside her face.
'Click.'
After taking the picture, Amamiya examined it. As expected, Shimizu wasn't visible in the photo.
"Yeah, just as I thought," he confirmed. "You can't be filmed, and video calls won't work either."
"That's so unfair!" Shimizu pouted in disappointment. "Wait, can Kaguya-chan at least hear me?"
Amamiya glanced at the phone, where Kaguya's image was still on the screen. She was sitting with her arms crossed, her face blank, but her ears had turned a bright shade of red.
"Shinomiya-san," Amamiya coughed lightly, "can you hear your mother speaking?"
Kaguya's voice was cold and composed as usual: "No, I can't hear anything."
"That settles it," Amamiya concluded, handing the phone back to Shimizu. "Video calls won't work. Just stick to texting."
Having no desire to eavesdrop on their mother-daughter conversations, Amamiya turned and left the room. He headed back to his own room to study, mindful of the exam the next day.
Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, it was already eleven at night.
Amamiya closed his workbook, preparing to go to bed, when his pinky finger suddenly twitched. It continued moving, tapping in a peculiar rhythm.
'It must be Chika again.'
Amamiya sighed. 'Playing around during the day is one thing, but why bother me in the middle of the night?'
Just then, his phone buzzed with an incoming message. It was from the pink-haired girl herself.
"Amamiya-kun, help!!"
Her frantic message continued:
"I was just about to sleep when a disheveled, creepy spirit crawled under my bed! It's too much, too much! I can't sleep knowing there's something hiding under there!"
"I can't help you with that," Amamiya replied bluntly. "Why don't you just switch rooms?"
Chika: "My sister's already asleep, and it's too late to wake her."
Amamiya: "Then just deal with it until morning and go straight to school."
Chika: "Amamiya-kun, that's too cruel! If I don't get any sleep, I'll be a wreck!"
'High school students can easily survive one sleepless night…' Amamiya thought to himself.
Chika: "I want to check if the spirit is still under the bed."
Amamiya quickly warned her: "Don't do it. Do 'not' look."
Without him there to protect her, if she made eye contact with the spirit, she'd be in real danger.
Chika: "I can't help it! The more I think about it, the more curious I get."
"Curiosity killed the cat," Amamiya typed back.
Chika: "Even if you say that, girls are naturally curious!"
'She's clearly not scared enough,' Amamiya thought, sighing. 'If she were more afraid, she'd be like a kid who pretends nothing happened and never looks under the bed.'
Resigned, Amamiya initiated a video call.
"Eh? Amamiya-kun?" Chika's face appeared on the screen, her head tilted in confusion. "You want to sleep with me?"
The girl was wearing a pair of Pikachu pajamas, her pink hair cascading over her shoulders. Without her usual black bow in her hair and makeup, her face looked soft and delicate, like the smooth skin of a freshly peeled egg.
"I'm sorry, I don't provide 'sleep-in' services," Amamiya replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He turned on his desk lamp, sat down, and grabbed his workbook.
"Let's stay up and study instead."
This pink-haired girl was something else. Whether she was genuinely oblivious or just playing dumb, it was impossible to tell.
She had mentioned wanting to peek under the bed, but who knew if she would actually do it?
Later That Evening
To be safe, he kept an eye on her for peace of mind. The anti-crime and anti-evil team would be vulnerable if even one person was missing.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Amamiya asked.
"Can't you resist checking under the bed?"
"No," Chika replied pitifully. "Why would an evil spirit hide under the bed when there are so many other places? I'm so worried!"
"Then sit down and read a book," Amamiya suggested.
"Okay," Chika obeyed and sat next to her desk. They talked while reading.
Half an hour later, Chika was already breathing heavily, her head nodding, and finally she lay on the table, falling asleep in a daze.
"Go to bed and don't lie on the table. Your buttons are wailing under the weight!"
Looking at the exhausted girl lying on the table, Amamiya ended the call with great willpower.
No words were spoken that night.
---
The Next Day
After waking up in the morning, Amamiya first sent a message to Chika. After confirming that the pink-haired girl was fine except for her back pain, he went out and headed downstairs.
"Good morning, Amamiya-kun~"
Shimizu raised her eyes and looked over. Seeing her body had become translucent again, Amamiya sighed helplessly.
'What should I do if my guardian spirit is addicted to her mobile phone and weakens herself every day?'
Of course, he forgave her.
Ghosts don't need sleep, but just sitting there is hard to bear, and it's more painful than insomnia.
"Good morning."
Amamiya went into the bathroom, washed up, came out to eat some bread and milk, and then headed to school.
"Good morning, Amamiya."
Miko, who had agreed to go to school together, was already waiting at the door.
The two of them are childhood sweethearts and attend the same school, so it's perfectly normal for them to go to school together.
"Good morning, Miko-chan," Shimizu greeted with a smile.
Seeing Shimizu looking even more dim than yesterday, Miko's mouth twitched slightly, and she couldn't help but look at Amamiya. "Last night..."
'Of course she's addicted to her cell phone. What else could it be!'
No conversation along the way.
Amamiya and Miko walked to their classrooms. Since they weren't in the same class, they changed their shoes and went to their respective rooms.
"Kaguya-chan is waiting for us in the activity room," Shimizu whispered. "I sent a message to Kaguya-chan when I left home this morning."
"It's a pity that we can't bring our phones to school," Shimizu sighed.
"Of course not. If you bring your phone here, ordinary people will just see it floating in the air. They'll be scared, right?"
While complaining, Amamiya left the classroom and quickly walked to the door of the activity room.
/Knock//Knock/
Amamiya knocked on the door.
"Come in." The cold and pleasant voice of Kaguya came from inside.
Pushing the door open, he saw that Kaguya was the only one in the activity room.
Seeing her mother's translucent body, Kaguya pressed her eyebrows helplessly.
A moment later, there was another knock on the door.
"Kaguya-chan, I'm here."
Chika pushed the door open and walked in, followed by a hot girl, Umi.
"Good morning, Amamiya-kun." Umi raised her right hand and greeted him with a bright smile.
"Good morning."
The four of them talked for a while and then prepared to open the blind boxes together.
"I'll go first. I'll go first," Chika said eagerly. She took the lead, but after opening her blind box, she found nothing inside.
"Eh?" Umi was startled and asked in surprise, "Empty blind box?"
Kaguya pursed her lips beautifully, and a familiar feeling of déjà vu quickly came to her heart.
Looking at the pink-haired girl, Amamiya raised his eyebrows slightly and asked, "...Blind box mission?"