Chapter 2 – I Do Not Want to Die!

『Wake up! Wake up! You will die again!』

So noisy. What does he mean by die again? Huh? It hurts.

「Ugh, urk」

Eh? Is someone strangling me? No way, I might really die… Die? Me?

「I will not let myself die!」

『You woke up～. Are you okay? You suddenly started suffering. Huh? Are you still in pain?』

A ghost passes in front of my eyes, but I ignore it for now! More than such an existence, I cannot breathe. My neck is being strangled.

「Wha, what is it?」

Someone is strangling my neck. But there is no one there.

「What, is, happening?」

I reach out again to grab the cause of the strangulation. But my hands grasp nothing.

Really, if this continues, I will die!

「No! I do not want to die!」

I cannot see or touch the cause of the strangulation. What should I do?

Squeeze.

The strangulation around my neck tightens. This is bad.

「Ugh」

I scratch at my neck, but I still cannot grab anything.

Damn it, if this goes on, it is really over!

I scratch at my neck again.

There is something here. There definitely is. Yes, there must be something here!

Thump.

My body becomes hot.

「Hah」

If I cannot see it, it must be a ghost. My spiritual power level is weak, so I should not be able to touch it.

「Uuu」

I glare at the empty space in front of me. A ghost must be here. It definitely is!

Thump, thump.

I can hear my heart beating. My body gets hotter and hotter.

「Ah」

I saw a black string in front of me! No, it is a rope!

「Is this it!」

I grab the black rope in front of me with both hands. Now, if I can just find the ghost…

It, hur, ts.

「No」

My vision is blurring. I have to do something about this rope…

I pull the rope I was holding with both hands to the left and right.

「Ugh…」

I cannot put strength into my hands. But if I give up here, I will die! I absolutely do not want that!

「Break!」

Thump.

Both my hands become intensely hot.

Snap.

It broke!

「Cough. Cough」

As I coughed, someone rubbed my back.

「Tha, cough, nk you. Cough」

When I calmed down a little, I looked at my hands. There was blood on the tips of my nails. My neck must be in terrible shape right now.

「Huh? It is gone?」

The rope that was strangling my neck is gone. Even though I was holding it tightly.

「It disappeared…」

Was it really the work of a ghost after all? But why?

While feeling a bit confused, I take a deep breath.

「Eh?」

I look around the room and freeze.

「…Where am I?」

『Who knows? I do not know either』

I look in the direction of the voice. It is the ghost who passed in front of me earlier.

「Huh?」

I look at the ghost’s face. I have seen him somewhere before. Where was it?

『What? Is there something on my face?』

The ghost pats his own face. Then he tilts his head and looks at me.

「Ah, I remember! You are the ghost who killed me!」

『I am very sorry for what happened back then!』

The ghost prostrates himself before my eyes. Well, it looked like he did. Since the ghost in front of me only exists from the waist up, which is typical for someone with spiritual power level one.

「Huh? Weren’t you in your complete form before? Why are you at spiritual power level one now?」

『Complete form? What is that?』

The ghost looks puzzled by my mutter.

Knock knock knock, rattle rattle.

I jump at the sound of knocking and someone trying to open the door. I hastily look at the door and feel relieved.

Good, it seems the door is locked.

「Rina? Rina? I heard a scream, what is wrong? Rina?」

Rina? I look around the room. There is no one but me. There is a ghost in front of me, but I can exclude him from this count.

「Rina? Please unlock the door? Oh my, did something happen?」

If there is no one else, does that mean I am Rina?

「I am fine」

If I am Rina, I should reassure her first. It would be troublesome if she broke the lock and came in.

「Rina? But I heard a scream」

「I am sorry. I had a scary dream and seemed to have screamed」

「Really? Are you truly okay?」

「Yes. I am fine, Mother」

Eh? Mother? Is the owner of this voice my mother? How did I know that?

「I see, I am glad. Shall I bring you something to drink?」

「No, I am going to sleep now, so I do not need anything」

「Understood. Good night, Rina」

「Yes. Good night, Mother」

The presence of the person disappears from in front of the door. I let out a big sigh.

Did I manage to fool her? More importantly, the word Mother came out naturally.

「I see, my body remembers. Could it be that I possessed a girl named Rina? But why?」

I turn my gaze to the ghost floating beside me. Since his spiritual power level is one, he seems to be floating automatically due to the surrounding influence.

「This is strange, too」

When I died, he was in his complete form. He had legs down to his feet, and above all, he was wearing colored clothes. So why is he now in white clothes and only visible from the waist up? I have never heard of spiritual power disappearing. But as a matter of fact, the ghost in front of me has changed from his complete form to this current appearance.

「Where did you lose your spiritual power?」

『Sorry. You… can I call you Rina?』

I am probably Rina. Looking at my hands, they are not my original body. After all, no matter how you look at them, they are a child’s hands.

「Probably」

『I do not know what this spiritual power Rina is talking about is』

If he does not know about spiritual power, it means he was not someone who 「could see ghosts」.

「Spiritual power is the power that a soul possesses」

『A soul is the thing that comes out of the body when you die, right?』

「Yes. The body is something borrowed from the world where you existed. Therefore, when the heart stops beating in that world, the soul is pushed out」

『Borrowed? It is my body, isn’t it?』

「It is while your heart is beating. But from the moment your heart stops and you die, your body no longer belongs to you but to that world」

『That world, meaning Earth?』

「Yes. You return what you borrowed, and then borrow a new body to be born into the world. You might even move to a different world」

『A different world? Like now?』

「No, this is different. To this world, we are unexpected existences」

『Why do you think so?』

「Because if we were existences accepted by this world, we should be able to borrow bodies. But I have possessed a girl named Rina, and you remain a ghost」

『So it means we could not borrow bodies because we are not existences accepted by this world?』

「Yes. However, since I do not know exactly what happened to me, I say ‘probably’」

『I see. Hey』

「What?」

『How do you know such things? I have never heard such stories before』

「My home is a ‘shrine that enshrines the god who protects the family’. Perhaps because of that, many in my family had strong spiritual sensitivity. There were also grandmothers and relatives who worked as psychics」

『Spiritual sensitivity?』

「I think we are called a clan with that trait」

『Rina too?』

「Among my family, my spiritual power level was weak, and I could only see them. If a ghost’s spiritual power level was two or higher, I could hear their voices too」

Since I could only see them and not exorcise them, I really went through a lot. If they found out I could see ghosts, they would follow me around. Once they realized I could hear them, they would talk to me regardless of the time. They did not care if I was working or sleeping. They were truly troublesome existences.

『A-are you okay? You have a terrifying look on your face』

The ghost places his hand on my shoulder with a pat.

「I am fine. I was just remembering various things… Eh?」

I look at my shoulder where the ghost is touching me.

『What is wrong?』

What is wrong, indeed? Why? Why can this ghost touch me? I should only be able to 「see」 because my spiritual power level is weak. And no matter how you look at it, this ghost is at spiritual power level one. Wait? Come to think of it, I can hear his voice too?

I grab the ghost’s hand on my shoulder.

「I can touch it」

『What? What? This is scary』

「I can touch it, and I can hear you too!」

『Eh, you can touch it and hear me?』

The ghost looks at me with a confused expression.

「I should only be able to ‘see’ because my spiritual power level is weak, but I can touch you!」

What does this mean? Did my spiritual power level increase? How? I heard that sometimes, for some reason, spiritual power levels can increase. Could it be that possessing someone made it stronger?

「What is happening?」