I let Gino do his little mocking laugh. He doesn't believe us.
So I made sure he would.
"Shadowman, let my friend Gino here, see you." I said with a smirk.
And Gino thought I was blabbering nonsense.
That's when he heard a snarl. Quite close to him, that made him jump away from where he previously was.
"Putaaaa! What's that?" He looked at it, and waa following him.
"You, Anthony! Making me your lapdog, following your orders. But... I'll make sure I'll deliver well." The shadowman was now in front of Gino.
But Gino already recovered. Quite easily. He's now, curious, interested, like someone found something worth interesting.
"Wow crap. It's real. Is this the rumored Shadowman who's seen inside the girl's restroom?" Gino was looking at it, from head to toe.
He's not scared at all. Not a tiny bit. His earlier reaction was out of fright not fear.
I thought I am finally able to see someone who screams like me. Who cowers in fear the first time they see it.
But no. Not at all.
Gino's too cool to act cowardly.
"Not fair. How could you act so cool about it?" I brushed my hair up, annoyed.
"What? I'm not gifted like you two. And I've been dreaming of this day. To be able to see them."
Gino's confession caught me off guard. There he was, looking at the shadowman with quite enthusiasm..
I can see excitement in his eyes.
Not like mine, who jumped out and ran away the first time I saw an entity.
People are really built differently.
Sarah on the other hand, was giggling. Seeing Gino's enthusiasm made her realize, being able to see them was not always that bad.
The shadowman felt, awkward. I didn't know it was capable of that. Since it was stepping back from Gino.
"Oh right. About the restrooms. The girls have been panicking about it. The third floor restroom in our building has been rumored as haunted." Sarah said, looking at me.
"Isn't that guy the culprit?" Gino said pointing at the disappearing shadow.
He felt quite down as he looked around. But the shadowman was just there. It's the skill's effect that was gone.
"No. It's not me. There's a ghost in there haunting the restroom. She died after jumping off the fourth floor. From bullying." The shadowman said.
I looked at it with a frown.
"Jumping off, from being bullied?" I exclaimed.
Gino and Sarah looked at me, with the same curiosity, and ache.
"I heard that story." Sarah paused for a bit. Then continued. "There was a girl from the architecture department, that jumped off from the building. It was after her bullies released a video of her scandal."
[TASK ACQUIRED: RELEASE THE VENGEFUL SPIRIT FROM HER OWN FURY.]
Crap.... A vengeful spirit. That's new. They're capable of hurting people. Adding more to the dake energy already inside them.
"Is...there....any news of student's getting hurt?" I asked.
Then Gino looked at me. Then around again.
"Wait up. Sarah said you can communicate with them, is the shadowman still here?"
"Yeah. It's still here. And he said it wasn't his doing, that causes the rumor of the third floor restroom." I explained to Gino.
"Not him? Then is it the ghost of that girl who committed....."
I cut Sarah off and nodded.
"We should go somewhere we can talk properly. Standing here, outside the gym, is tiring." I said, already walking towards a bench.
Sarah sat on my right, and Gino sat on my left.
"This is so exciting." Gino exclaimed.
And he was truly excited. And he's not being subtle about it.
"Exciting? This is paranormal investigation Gino. Not a game." I wasn't even toning my voice down.
"I know. But this excites me. I don't care if I couldn't see anything. All I want is to be a part of this." He looked at me with such, pleading eyes of not to be left out.
"Fine. But you're gonna be the front man. They're not able to touch you or scare you anyways. Since you can't see them, you're able to enter places, without trouble. Unlike me and Sarah, who sees them. Especially me. I can see them in 4k." I grunted.
[GINO HAS JOINED THE TEAM]
[SARAH HAS JOINED THE TEAM]
Huh wait up. Since when does my system become a game type? Team? We aren't go raiding. Were investigating.
[THAT'S WHY IT'S CALLED A TEAM NOT A PARTY, HOST]
Whatever. Same same. Party of team. They've became a part of this huh.
[TASK UPDATED: TEAM TASK ACQUIRED: FREE THE VENGEFUL SPIRIT FROM HER OWN FURY]
The task became a team task. Great. My tasks has doubled. And I still have pending ones from the churches.
Think good thoughts. Be positive about it.
Yeah. It's fine. The more task the more points I gain, the stronger my system gets, and so do I.
"How do we do this?" Gino was already expecting me to lead this team.
Ugh. This became, a bit more complicated. But maybe having a team, I can share troubles with, would prove to be great.
"Let's get more information. Articles, stories, anything that we can get." I said, looking like the leader, they made me.
"That's too much work. Why not talk to her ghosts." Sarah and I, looked at Gino.
Like he just said the most straightforward option. Because he did.
But it's not always like that.
"No. Not all ghosts are capable of communicating. And this one, if she's hurting students here, she's not a good one. She's vengeful. And we need to know something before we approach her." I said calmly.
Gino and Sarah, listened to every word I said and nodded.
Like, what I've said were uncontested. They didn't go against it, nor react more to it, just accepted it.
"Then that's what we will do. I already got a few leads. Since I got curious too. I'll ask around with the other girls." Sarah volunteered.
"Okay. I'll try to ask around, with the others."
"Others? You mean other ghosts?" Gino interrupted.
"Yeah. And the Shadowman knows things. I'll start with it."
Our little meeting ended, with us having roles we fill.
And suddenly, I just got myself a paranormal investigative team.