The school bell started ringing like it was losing its mind,
students pouring outta class like the building was on fire.
"Yo, wait up! I'm heading to the cafeteria too!"
some dude yelled down the hallway.
Ichigo popped up in front of is friend like,
"Bro, where you been? I was literally standing here waiting for you!"
Two girls were screaming at each other like it was a soap opera.
"I brought my lunch today!"
"Oh yeah? What is it? Better not be as nasty as last time."
The whole school was loud as hell
students everywhere, teachers yelling,
"Hey! Move it! Move it! Don't stay there!"
Some teacher even shouted,
"Hey, Shaki! I just told you MOVE!"
And Shaki, poor dude, was just sitting quietly in his class like,
"I didn't even do anything…"
Then this one girl in my class looked at me,
looked away,
and walked straight to her group of friends.
"Girls, girls did you see that new transfer student?"
she whispered like she was announcing a crime scene.
"He's just sitting there staring at his book and smiling.
So creepy."
Another girl looked right at me and said,
"Maybe he's reading a dirty magazine."
Her friend clicked her tongue.
"Ugh, boys are so weird. All disgusting."
They all stared at me like I personally offended their bloodline.
Meanwhile, I didn't even react.
Club was closed yeah, whatever.
That wasn't the issue.
I joined that club because I loved the creepy, weird, supernatural stuff.
Not that I'd admit what's been going on in my real life…
But right now?
I was deep into this new horror book about ghosts and aliens
one of the wildest, creepiest things I'd ever read.
That book had its claws in me.
I was waiting for Nami and Cairo,
barely aware of anything else,
until
"YO! RENJI!"
Cairo's voice blasted from my window like a jump scare.
He stuck his head in.
"You up for lunch?! We're heading to the spot!"
The "spot" meaning the school roof
our usual lunch hideout.
Then Nami leaned on my doorway,
waving like I was some suspicious creature.
"Sup, weird horror guy," she said.
"You don't think the crap we went through last week was enough?"
I finally looked up, waved back, grabbed my bag,
slid my book inside, tightened the straps,
picked up my lunch,
and walked out.
Those gossip girls kept staring at me like I'd been caught doing something illegal.
Still talking about "dirty magazines,"
still whispering.
I heard them.
I just didn't care.
Yeah, I love haunted stuff.
Yeah, I'm into ghosts and monsters.
But that doesn't mean I'm not terrified of them.
We were all heading up to the school roof together when Cairo opened his mouth first,
"Yo, y'all heard about that mysterious girl?"
Nami rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, the whole school been talking about some weird chick with long hair wandering around at night. But like why the school, though?"
My hands were in my pockets, lunch in the other.
Walking forward.
Not caring one bit.
I turned my head and said,
"After everything we been through, y'all still talking about some damn long-hair ghost girl in a school uniform?
How do you even think that's real?"
Nami gave me that look.
"Look at you talking like YOU ain't the weird one here.
You read horror books like they're holy scripture, you joined a club just to hunt ghosts, then you got dragged into a whole ghost world, and now you acting like you're not into it? Cut it out. When we came to get you, you were literally reading another ghost book."
Cairo snorted.
"Bro, I heard what those girls were saying. If they're gonna call you a pervert, they should call you a ghost pervert.
What do you even love about those books?!"
Nami clapped her hands.
"Bruh, no time for this. We gotta eat. They gon' ring the bell any minute."
"Fine, fine. Let's go," I muttered.
We kept walking to the roof
then heard a loud meow.
Damn Kiki.
We saw him sprint across the hallway and shoot straight into one of the classrooms.
Nami stopped.
"Hold up, dudes, isn't that Kiki? I thought he was at the treehouse."
Cairo shrugged.
"Man, maybe that cat needed a vacation. Plus we ain't paid him his security salary, we don't even feed him."
Nami smacked his arm.
"He's a GHOST CAT. How are we supposed to feed a damn ghost? You think ghosts eat chicken nuggets?"
I frowned.
"So… we checking why he's here or we just walking past like we ain't see nothing?"
Cairo's face changed REAL quick.
"Nahhh, this ain't right.
Kiki only runs when something crazy is around.
He always ends up in some cursed place."
He shuffled back slowly.
"Aight fine… let's… check.
But for the record I'm already ten feet away."
Nami was backing up too.
"Man, this is insane. I thought we were DONE with ghosts.
Why the hell is Kiki even at school?
Why'd he run into that class?
Are we seriously gonna"
She blinked.
They were both like 10 feet behind me and I didn't even notice.
I sighed.
"Okay, okay. I'll check it out. I'll call you guys if something happens."
Man…
I was shaking.
My legs felt like noodles.
But I had to play it cool.
I'm the "weird ghost guy," right?
Couldn't let them see I was scared.
I crouched, leaned against the wall, put my bag and lunch down,
inched toward the door,
and pushed it open
And there he was.
That stupid cat.
Kiki.
Sitting there licking milk from a bowl like he owned the place.
I exhaled hard.
"Bruh… Kiki. Who gave you milk?"
Kiki looked up, meowed at me.
Sounded like he was saying,
"YOU ain't feeding me. I'm out here guarding your damn treehouse like an unpaid intern."
I stared at him, walked back, grabbed my lunch,
came over, opened it, split it in half,
and poured half into the bowl.
Kiki meowed again
this time like he was grateful
and started eating like he hadn't had food in 9 ghost lifetimes.
Then Cairo yelled from the hallway,
"YO RENJI! You still alive in there?!
Did a ghost eat you?!
Or did you get kidnapped by another ghost pregnant lady!?"
Nami added,
"Yeah! Not like we're scared or anything!
We're just… checking!"
"Relax," I shouted back.
"It's just Kiki!"
They finally walked inside and sat down like nothing happened.
Cairo picked up my bag from the floor.
"Bro you drop your stuff like you're in an action movie."
He set it down again.
Nami sat down and opened her lunch
girl ate like a whole army.
Her lunch looked like she was feeding an entire classroom.
Cairo laughed.
"Damn, I thought I could eat. Look at YOUR lunch!"
Nami shot him a death glare.
"You talk too much for a crybaby.
You brought like… one slice of bread."
"HUH?!" Cairo choked.
"Say that again, diaper-head!"
We always argued, but that's how close we were.
The school festival was right around the corner,
so we had to keep preparing.
But with the rumor of that mysterious girl spreading everywhere,
we knew something was off…
and we had to figure out what was really going on.