Good lord, I've also fallen into Love Live hell. Waiting for LP is suffering. I'm in T2 in the current NicoMaki event though! Let's see if it stays that way or if I fall off again to T3 when the event ends…I can actually see the latter happening. And do you know how hard it is to hold myself from using loveca to roll on the Bibi limited scouting? Ugh. Being Bibifag is suffering as well.

But anyway! Here's a story that's been playing in my mind for a while now. I've outlined most of it so at most I'll be updating…er, once every two weeks (maybe longer because work)? But I only really planned this to be 5-8 chapters. We'll see what happens though.

Enjoy.

The Science of Spectral Magnetism

Prologue Chapter

The ticking of the old-fashioned wall clock blared into my ears as I scowled at the question before me. It had been like that for the past 25 minutes or so since I began my biochemistry homework. I irritatedly twirled my pen on the blank answer sheet, grunting all the while. This should be something I could answer no problem. But because of the recent developments that transpired in my apartment, the formula or anything about my homework really—just would not flow properly in my head.

"After the cells undergo replication three times, what percentage of the cells will have both strands of DNA labeled?" A voice read out loud, breaking my silent bout with the desk in front of me.

I always found science fascinating. It had answers to almost anything and still evolved in its discovery and innovation. I reveled in such intelligent and profound matters. As such, things like the supernatural and spiritual yielded no interest in me. The thought was just silly, ludicrous even—it lacked clarity that most sciences take pride in. I was supposed to think like that my entire life whilst pursuing a successful medical career, but I was met with a predicament I couldn't even begin to explain.

"Man, with questions like these, I'll never understand why some people want to be doctors."

"Leave me alone, I'm trying to study here." I blurted out, trying not to look at the source of that incredibly dumb statement.

"Why are you being such a grump? I was lightening up the mood since you've been burning holes in that paper with your pretty eyes for like half an hour now. It's not gonna help, you need to relax a little…" I zoned out for half of her melodramatic tirade. Hearing her voice gave me a headache; her whole existence gave me a headache.

"…show a bit more life!"

I had to mentally laugh after hearing that last bit. She was the last person I want to hear talking about life.

"Say something, slanty eyes!"

It had only been two days since we met and this was her most articulate description of me. I can feel my mood dipping further. "Would it kill you to shut up for 5 minutes? Stupid ghost."

Ruby eyes mocked as it continued to stare me down. "You call me a ghost after asking if it would kill me to shut up?"

"Cause clearly you know all about having 'a bit more life', huh?" I countered, laying out my unspoken jab from earlier.

"Jerk." She grimaced and turned her back on me.

I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding. Somewhere deep down, I knew that was going too far. But I needed silence. Things have been pretty chaotic in the form of this...ghost. A loud and abrasive girl who looked like a middle schooler. She referred to herself as Nico. She all of a sudden appeared in my apartment and hasn't left since. She was as the books described a poltergeist to be; transparent, floating, lower part of the body hardly visible—the only thing that was different was that she wasn't necessarily ominous. Kinda cute even. But annoying. She was harmless otherwise.

Our interactions consisted mostly of arguments she almost always instigated herself. In such a short span of time knowing me! The nerve. She just won't leave me be. I tried all sorts of things to get rid of her. From an advocate of science, I ended up seeking help of countless exorcists, paranormalists and what have you, just to get her to accept death or something and pass on. But nothing has worked so far. Science failed to explain this phenomenon to me and I feel betrayed. My quiet life was suddenly riddled by this pompous apparition, who talks to me as if she got the world figured out yet often refers to herself in third person.

"What if I was still actually alive or something?" I hear her mumble. I can't help but feel offended at how retarded it sounded.

"Excuse me?" I asked, incredulously so.

"Think about it," She said. "None of your quack doctors made any difference, and I'm such an adorable little thing, so full of life!" I rolled my eyes at how her voice rolled into a higher, more cutesy pitch, in a way that kind of sounded like she had her lips puckered up as she spoke.

"Gross."

"Ugh, I swear actually being dead and not being here would be easier than dealing with this incredibly unwelcoming atmosphere," She still had her back on me, so it was hard to gauge her expression. I couldn't however miss the trembling in her voice, it made me feel bad about how I'm treating her. "What the heck am I doing here? Why you? Why can't I remember a single thing from my past life?"

If I knew the answers, I would tell her in a heartbeat. I'm inconvenienced too. How the heck did she expect me to treat a stranger, let alone an annoying supernatural being like her? It wasn't as if I dealt with this kind of thing every day. Why did it feel like I was the bad guy here? As I pondered more about these things, my eyes followed her form as it slowly floated to a corner of my room, I can feel the air of helplessness surrounding her. She didn't say anything afterwards, just stared at the walls and kept to herself.

Which of course made me feel worse about my actions. It was true that she got on my nerves, but she never meant ill towards me. A few minutes had passed by the time I decided to try and say something, but whatever it was, I had completely forgotten. It was then that she finally faced me, an unreadable expression on her pale frame. "Why the hell can you see me?" Her voice went a tone lower as she posed her question, she glared at me accusingly.

I thought about it for a while, "T-that's my line! I never wanted to see dead people." I found myself saying.

"No, really, why can you see me?" She asked, her face softening as it was replaced by confusion. She crossed her arms in contemplation. "I mean, you clearly have no idea who I am. Wouldn't I have haunted a family member instead? A friend? Maybe a lover? You're not any of those."

Come to think of it, the ghost had a point. Why is it that I was the only one to see her? Why couldn't her form leave my apartment? She tried to several times—doing that classic ghost thing running through walls—but would always find herself back in my room. I tried hard to remember if I pissed someone that looked like her so bad she held a grudge on me until death, but no such memory came up.

"There must some kind of reason we haven't considered yet." I answered after a long time of internal reasoning.

"Well you better help me find that out or I'll be stuck here with you your entire life...maybe." She gave a thoughtful look.

I gave a face of horror to the very thought. There is just no way I would stand for that. I probably wouldn't be able to last a week with her.

"Or maybe you'd like that?" She gave a cutesy wink my way, her face smug and teasing.

"Hell no, you wish." I felt my face heat up despite blanching at the idea in my mind. She's a girl for heaven's sake.

"Nico doesn't know what to do when you blush like that," She said, her tone suddenly dallying and sugary. "I'm sorry for being so cute."

"You…I don't you!" I replied weakly, twirling the tips of my hair out of habit.

The ghost seemed to have taken the hint and left me alone to mull things over. She didn't say anything after that, just letting out childish giggles every now and then. While it was annoying, it was a lot more bearable than having to hear her talk all day. She was such a huge distraction. I frowned and faced my answer sheet again, considering her suggestion. I picked up my pen, only planning to give it a twirl as I thought it over, but I realised that somehow, the formula for my homework suddenly worked its way through my brain and onto my pen.

"That's a yes then?" She sounded as if she already knew the answer and she was so smug about it that it kind of pisses me off.

I breathed deeply and gathered my thoughts.

Her being annoying aside, why not. I could help her out. If only to free myself from this ridiculously unscientific encounter.

"I'll do it."

Thanks for reading.