Sitting under the lectern, Xiaoxiao Ji wondered if it was just her. She kept feeling the transfer student, Lu Ming, pause beside her, a clear hitch.

“Something wrong?” she asked under her breath by her desk.

Her face wasn’t dirty. Why keep staring like a moth to a flame?

“Nothing.”

He gave a polite smile. He realized he’d been rude. He pulled his gaze back and strode off. He returned to his desk, flipped out a textbook, ready for class.

That girl carried a faint yin chill on her and around her, like fog. Got tangled by little ghosts? A few seats behind Xiaoxiao Ji, Lu Ming frowned at her back. Thoughts churned like dark water.

Not until the bell ended the period did Lu Ming stand. He walked to Xiaoxiao Ji and asked, “Have you had anything strange lately? Like seeing odd things, even in daylight?”

“Eh?” Xiaoxiao Ji had been wrestling with whether to play on her phone. The sudden address jolted her like a tap of cold rain. She turned and focused. It was the transfer student from last class.

“I…” She’d just opened her mouth when a few boys beside her leaned in. They started jeering, voices like tin pans.

“Hey, did you really take yourself for an exorcist?”

“These days, how could there be weird stuff?”

“Come on, it’s the age of science. Believe science.”

“If you want to talk to a girl, don’t play crazy and scare her.”

“That edgy act won’t win you fans in this class.”

“…”

Their voices boomed, and heads turned like wheat in a gust. The noisy classroom hushed, thinned like a tide going out. Lu Ming ignored them and took them for fools.

“Wear this on you. Don’t go near water at night for a few days. When the coin disappears, the little ghost clinging to you will leave.”

He pulled a red cord threaded with a copper coin from his pocket. He handed it to the girl and reminded her, voice like frost. “Don’t break it. Otherwise that clinger won’t leave, and more ghosts will swarm you.”

“Huh…” The coin was dark as ink in her palm. Xiaoxiao Ji looked puzzled, but she remembered the morning like a thorn. She didn’t give it back. She just nodded a thanks, and that was that.

The boys didn’t like being ignored. Before she could pocket the coin, the nearest boy snatched it. He flung it to the floor and laughed like a crow. “Listen to yourself. A junk coin you picked up can block man-eating ghosts? You think you’re a Daoist from supernatural novels? Xiaoxiao, don’t listen. Even if a ghost really clung to you, I’d chase it off.”

“Yeah, yeah! If you’re so capable, call a few ghosts out for me. If you can’t, stop faking spooky.”

“Brain-dead.” Lu Ming didn’t argue with him. He bent to pick up the coin off the floor. The boy stepped on it first, pinning it like a beetle.

“What, did I bust your bluff and make you nervous? Listen, you’d better drop your scare tricks. Your bro Yu doesn’t buy it.” With that, Zhang Huanyu ground his heel on the coin. He stomped it a few more times for good measure.

Crack… A crisp sound snapped by his ear, like something split clean in two. His foot froze mid-stomp.

“Stomp. Why’d you stop?” Lu Ming looked at the statue-still Zhang Huanyu and jeered. “Weren’t you brave a minute ago? Keep stomping.”

“Yu bro, what’s up?” Classmates who’d come to gawk stared, baffled. One of his cronies patted his shoulder.

Then it happened. The hand had just landed when a figure blossomed before Zhang Huanyu. A feral woman in white robes and a white headscarf drifted forward.

Her face was chalk-pale. Her eyes were sunken, empty as wells. Blood leaked from eyes, nose, and mouth, bright as poppies. At this distance, you could see white maggots writhing in the sockets. It was bone-deep creepy, like cold hands on a neck.

The boy thought he was seeing things. Then the ghost who’d been staring at Zhang Huanyu began to turn her head. It slow-turned left, almost a full circle, joints creaking in silence. At the end, she fixed that twisted gaze on the boy touching him. And she bared a jagged, impossible smile.

“G-ghost! Ugh—!” Like a punch to the gut, the boy let out a wail. He toppled with a thud and dry-heaved on the floor.

Students nearby jerked back at the sudden turn, like birds flushed. Especially Xiaoxiao Ji. She nearly jumped and hugged the girl beside her. “W-what’s wrong with them?” Xiaoxiao shrank and hid behind Zhao Yue, peeking out.

“What else? They pissed off the little ghost that wanted the coin. Payback’s simple.” Lu Ming answered with a cold smile. Faces around him blanched like paper. The timid ones edged back a few steps.

But—

“Who the hell wants your crappy coin? I just hate those two punks. I’m scaring them for fun. Quit flapping your lips.” The ghost floating before Zhang Huanyu flipped Lu Ming the finger. It was Nana Toki, contempt dripping like ink.

Lu Ming blinked. First time in his life he’d met a ghost who cussed. The ones he’d seen were dull as fog or blood-mad and raging. None this composed—who even threw him a middle finger. Something about this ghost was off.

“What are you?” Lu Ming frowned, but his right hand slid toward his pocketed tools.

“Can’t you tell?” Back in her usual looks, Nana Toki floated around him, arms crossed. “Are you brain-dead?”

He’d been insulted by a ghost. Again.

“Where did you come from?” Lu Ming’s mouth twitched hard.

“Tsk. I came with that girl.” Nana Toki pointed lazily at Xiaoxiao Ji behind Zhao Yue. “Didn’t see that coming, did you?”

He really hadn’t.

Man and ghost chatted in the classroom air. Thanks to Nana Toki’s spellwork, no one else could see her. They only saw Lu Ming talking to a patch of empty air. The scene looked eerie, like a play with one actor.

He sensed she didn’t have much power. Lu Ming wasn’t worried she’d hurt anyone nearby. At most, she could spook ordinary people like before.

“Not planning to let him go?” Lu Ming pointed at Zhang Huanyu behind her. “Even aside from the coin, you’ve had your fun.”

“What, you want to save him? Wasn’t he just trashing you?” Nana Toki smiled at Lu Ming, malice like a thin knife. “If it were me, I’d kill him.”

“You’ve got little mana and lots of spite. Tongues run fast, but words are wind. He deserves a penalty, not a death. Let him go, and I’ll give you a few more coins.”

“Nope.” Nana Toki floated up to him. “If you’re willing to owe me a favor, I’ll spare him.”

She was in a rare good mood. Also, she was weak and couldn’t win a fight.

“What do you want my favor for?” Lu Ming grew more certain something was off.

“I like the look of you. No other reason.”

“…”

“Yes or no. Be quick. Stop dithering like an old aunt.”

“I’ll owe you one, but I won’t do anything excessive.”

Nana Toki didn’t care about the limit. She hadn’t planned on hurting people anyway.

Snap! She snapped her fingers. The spell on Zhang Huanyu fell away like a sheet. As soon as Lu Ming’s words faded, a crisp snap sounded from nowhere.

Zhang Huanyu stood there, one leg raised. He shuddered and snapped awake. Cold sweat ran down his back in sheets.

“Well? Still think I was putting on a show?” Lu Ming tugged a corner of his mouth and smiled.