NOVPUB"Miss Hastings. Strangely, there doesn't seem to be any issues with your health?"
The next day, after the doctor arrived, he spoke to me with an expression of genuine surprise.
I had been going to the hospital so often for check-ups that they decided to run a detailed examination, and the results came back showing no abnormalities.
"However, there is a bit of malnutrition."
Eastern and Raven, who were listening to the doctor's opinion, seemed to be shocked.
If someone else had seen it, they might think I had malnutrition because of the two of them.
The weakness in my body seemed to stem from the effects of coming to this place and dealing with the evil spirits. In other words, malnutrition was a separate issue.
After the doctor ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) left, telling me to eat properly, Raven turned to me and spoke.
"No way. Sis, from now on, you're eating with us. If we don't take care of you, who will?"
"Huh, huh? Did you just say 'we'?"
Eastern, who had been sitting absentmindedly, turned to Raven in surprise. However, Raven didn’t seem to care about Eastern’s reaction. He grabbed the bag with my things in it and extended his hand toward me.
"Let’s go eat in the cafeteria first."
"Cafeteria? What's that?"
"The student cafeteria."
I thought to myself that they sure love abbreviating things and quietly got out of bed.
Phew...
At that moment, I noticed ghosts, who had been holding hands and anxiously waiting in the distance, start to approach and circle around me. It was as if they were relieved that there was no problem.
I had reached the point where I could now read the ghosts' emotions just by looking at their expressions (though they had no real expressions to speak of). I guess it was because I had grown attached to them.
Anyway, as the ghosts gathered around me, Eastern flinched and looked in their direction.
As a shaman, he didn’t always have perfect powers, so sometimes he could see them, and sometimes not.
It was definitely unusual that I could see them so casually.
Anyway, Eastern alternated between looking at the ghosts and then me, before he asked:
"I’ve felt this before, but I’ve never seen a human who is loved by ghosts. Did you ever do something for these ghosts, senior?"
"No, nothing like that."
The ghosts seemed to just like me because I was the only one who could see them.
Over time, some sort of bond or affection had developed between the ghosts and me.
"That's really strange."
The only person who couldn’t see the ghosts here was Raven.
Raven wasn’t surprised since he had heard about it from me earlier, but it seemed like he was frustrated because he couldn’t see the ghosts by himself.
"Stop chatting and let’s go to the cafeteria."
When Raven gestured with his head, Eastern finally snapped back to reality and nodded in agreement.
We headed toward the student cafeteria. The cafeteria was in a building with various amenities and was open 24 hours a day.
Of course, breakfast, lunch, and dinner were free if you showed your student card, but during off-hours, you had to pay.
When I entered the cafeteria with Raven and Eastern, the students looked at us in surprise.
It was a weekend morning, so there weren’t many students. Many had slept in or gone out for brunch in the village.
I looked around, feeling puzzled.
"...The atmosphere is strange."
There were students who looked surprised, some who seemed excited and were huddled together talking, and others who looked downcast. The whole place felt somewhat unsettled.
"It’s because of the library ghost story, I guess."
Eastern scratched the back of his head and answered. As he was listening quietly, Raven added his thoughts.
"Remember the students who had fits and said they were going to drop out? They were all sent to the hospital. The school offered psychiatric consultations as part of their welfare, right?"
"Yeah. After they were discharged, it seemed like their condition had improved. They said everyone had calmed down."
"That’s a bit strange. They all act like they can’t even remember the ghost stories, as if they’ve forgotten about them entirely."
"Did the doctor do something to them?"
At my question, both Raven and Eastern shrugged their shoulders at the same time.
"That’s something we don’t know."
"We’re just speculating, but something definitely feels off."
I nodded at Eastern and Raven’s answer. It was definitely strange.
"Who suggested sending students to the hospital as part of school welfare? The hospital wouldn’t have brought up the idea first."
"I heard it was the head of the academic affairs department."
Raven answered at my question.
The head of the academic affairs department. That person’s name keeps coming up.
At first, I had been suspicious of the dean, but the more time passed, the more I began to suspect someone else.
It seemed Eastern had the same thought, as we had both visited the mountain lodge behind the school together.
"We should definitely keep an eye on the head of the academic affairs department."
I nodded in agreement.
Just then, the food we had ordered was brought to the table.
As we ate the pumpkin stew, salmon steak, and carrot rabe, Raven was unusually attentive, fussing over me.
"See? I told you, didn’t I? The Hastings siblings' game of tag is over."
At that moment, I overheard some whispers nearby, referring to us.
I looked at Raven with an embarrassed expression. Raven, without a change in his demeanor, casually placed a piece of salmon steak onto my plate.
"Wow, look at this idiot. Was he always such a calm person? Trying to act all dignified."
The whispers from the students grew louder and more intrusive.
Raven, who had been about to feed me salad with a fork, paused. He turned his head in the direction of the whispers, and I could see the students quickly averting their gaze, as if riding a wave. They had only been looking at him for a moment, but their glances were so vicious.
The students, who had desperately tried to avoid Raven’s gaze, were sweating profusely.
I silently watched them and then spoke to Eastern.
"My kid’s not like that. He's a good boy and very proper."
Eastern, who had been quietly eating his stew, suddenly choked.
"This is probably the most absurd thing I’ve heard all year, senior."
At Eastern’s response, I felt a little embarrassed for sounding like such a doting older sibling.
Anyway, after finishing our meal, as we were heading back to the dormitory, Raven made a suggestion to me.
"As I said earlier, from now on, you’ll eat with us. Got it? You always skip meals, so I have to keep an eye on you."
"Hey, why me?"
Eastern asked, sounding puzzled, but Raven didn’t reply.
I was also curious, so I asked him.
"Raven, how do you know I skip meals so often?"
Raven quickly shut his mouth, looking guilty. It seemed like he had been watching me all this time.
This guy... Still, he did care about me. Somehow, I felt warm inside.
"Alright. Let’s all eat together."
"No, senior, I mean, why me?"
It looked like I now had a new meal companion.
After the library ghost story and the bathroom ghost story surfaced, followed by the hospitalizations, it felt like the first time I was actually going to school in a while.
I opened the back door of the 2nd-year F class and entered. The classroom fell silent. Everyone stared at me as though they had seen a ghost.
"Hello."
When I greeted them with a smile, the students suddenly started chatting noisily as if a spell had been lifted.
They all gathered around me as I placed my bag on my desk.
"Hastings, are you okay?"
"We were worried. Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Did those idiots in the main building bother you again? Those jerks."
I showed a puzzled expression at the last comment.
"Jerks?"
"The main building people are all dull. They’re nothing but dusty old fools."
By the way, since Raven was from the main building, I felt a bit upset and almost wanted to argue. Of course, I kept it in check, as I had to maintain some social decorum.
"It’s been a while since I’ve seen you in class."
"Are you feeling okay?"
At that moment, Dante and Leonard, who had entered later than me, greeted me.
"I'm fine. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?"
Leonard sat behind me, and Dante, my classmate, sat next to me.
Just then, the class bell rang. It was the sound of the large bell tower in the courtyard.
As I took out my notebook to prepare for class, I discovered The Diary of Sister Gloria in my bag.
‘Come to think of it, I forgot to tell Raven about the diary.’
I thought it might be a good idea to share it with Noah, too. It seemed like it would be better to talk about it while I was with Raven.
‘There’s nothing too special in the diary, anyway. Sharing this kind of information will probably be helpful...’
In the end, I decided to share The Diary of Sister Gloria with Noah as well.
