I cowered, covering my ears against the loud scraping noises. It lasted only a few minutes, but it sure felt like I had been sent to hell.

My heartbeat was so loud that it took me a while to realise that it was finally over. I didn't remember dropping the flashlight, but here it was, nesting against my feet, fully functional. Finally daring to open my eyes, I scanned the store with the light. It was hard to imagine that the mayhem in the store could have gotten worse than before, but it did.

It was a miracle that I came out of it unharmed. I felt like there was a perfect circle around me where none of the shelves had fallen.

"Not nice, ghost, not nice…" I said, my voice coming out raspy and staggered.

I wonder what Hiwatari's plan was. I had been almost killed and I'm not even sure if the camera I set up earlier had survived. I wasn't sure if I should keep following the plan of angering that entity, since it didn't seem to be any friendly.

I tried to calm down, but I felt like throwing up.

What should I do?

The weird state of trance I was in since the interrogation at the police station had finally worn down. With a clearer mind, I knew there was only one thing to do. I had to get out of there if I wanted to survive.

I got on my feet and started to analyse my way out. While most of my path was blocked, I could still squeeze between the displays and…

"Kinomiya?" I heard a feminine voice behind me say, sending a shiver down my spine.

I turned around fast, pointing my flashlight at whatever horrible entity was out there to kill me.

I was deeply surprised when a very blinded brown-haired girl stood before me, covering her eyes with her right hand. Her hair tied into two braids, she seemed eerily familiar.

"Hiromi…?"

Her surprised reaction turned into small quick anger towards me. "Don't you dare call me by my first name." She took a big breath before continuing to lash out at me. "So it really was you who did all this! I heard you breaking in!"

Oh, thank you Hiwatari! People had definitely heard us forcing the doors open all over the neighbourhood. Hiromi's place must be nearby since she has always been so annoyingly punctual and it added to her grandiose thoughts that the place belonged to her. Sometimes it almost felt as if she lived in the store. If she heard from her house I had no doubts the police would also be on their way here.

But there was no time to dwell on this.

I grabbed her by the wrist, with a bit more force than I initially intended. "Look, I don't have time to explain, we need to get out. It's dangerous in here."

I turned my flashlight to illuminate the path towards the door, but only then I realised what the first loud noise was.

The door was closed.

"Fuck!" I cursed, accidentally very loudly.

Where was that Hiwatari guy in a moment like this? Did he leave?

"Kinomiya, let go of me and explain yourself!" Tachibana shouted when she pulled away from me.

I sighed. There was no way that I could explain myself without telling my secret.

"Look, you may think that it's crazy… But this place is being haunted. There's something in here." I saw her expression shift from incredulous, to exasperated and settling in a very uncomfortable one.

"What are you even trying to say? Have you gone crazy?"

"It wasn't me who messed up the place. It was… Something paranormal. I seem to attract this type of stuff around me."

She looked at me horrified. "This isn't… This isn't possible. Stop messing around."

"Look I wanted it to not be real too. I can't hold a single job because of them." There seemed to be an inch of sympathy growing on her at that moment, and that was a lot for her to take in so she had a very pained expression. "How did you even get in, though?"

She looked at me with teary eyes and a weird feeling started creeping in me. I felt very nauseous all of sudden.

How was it possible that she was here?

As loud as it was when the store was getting even more dishevelled, it is not possible that she just stood there in the dark, while everything was happening. When did she even come inside? Why was she wearing her uniform?

The questions rushed through my mind until it finally dawned on me.

"Tachibana… are you…" My words came out hesitant. "Are you a ghost?"

She looked at me, in a mix of pain and sadness. I don't think she realised she was dead. I interacted with her for months and didn't think of her as anything more than a very alive angry human.

I kept tracing back all my interactions with her. I wanted it to be just a misunderstanding. How could I have interacted with a ghost for so long without realising?

On the day of my first shift, Hiromi Tachibana introduced herself as the manager to me and complained about my cleaning skills. While she bossed me around, she didn't seem to interact with any of the clients. She seemed to always have more work to do in the back room, but I always thought it was because she was the manager.

Were the small incidents her way of telling me that she needed help?

My flashlight was still pointed at her. Tears rolled down her face. Her sobs got louder. "So I really am dead…"

I truly pitied her, trapped inside that store not ever realising she wasn't alive and just carrying on working as normal.

"I am so sorry, Tachibana." I placed my hand on her shoulder. I didn't know where to go from there. Should I try to help her? What should I even do? "Do you know how you died?"

Hiromi didn't look at me, she kept her gaze pointed at the floor. "There was an accident in the back room..." Her speech was punctuated by her sobs. I still couldn't tell the difference between her and an actual living person. "I stayed late that day. I had a fight with another coworker who was supposed to be helping me restock the shelves. There was something heavy on top…"

Only then she looked straight at me. I wonder if her green cap was hiding the wound from the accident. I didn't want to think about it.

"It didn't knock me out immediately." She continued. "I fell on my back and stayed there, begging for someone to come find me or that I could stay alive until the next shift… But it turns out that I…"

Hiromi was interrupted by a noise coming from the door. Pointing my light towards the entrance, I saw Hiwatari trying to force the door open, his muffled voice calling my name.

The beam of light flickered until it all turned pitch black.

"Sorry, Kinomiya." Hiromi said.

And with that, I was out cold.

The cold air greeted my face bitterly. The light blinded me, I struggled to look around when it was so bright and white. Did I… die? Had I been crushed by one of the shelves?

I could feel the crunch of the snow under my shoes. My eyes slowly started getting used to the brightness and I was able to distinguish faded shapes far away. It was foggy. I started to remember, I have been here before. In a dream. So I was dreaming again?

In the middle of the dense fog, the old wooden church stood tall. I didn't find Hiwatari's silhouette standing in the fog like last time though. I was completely alone.

I wondered what that place was. Its presence made my chest feel heavy, it felt threatening and sad at the same time. Looking at it made me feel like it was slowly getting closer and closer, but I wasn't moving at all.

A big white dog guarded the door. It was a Siberian Husky. Its bright blue eyes stared at me with alertness. There was a strange sense of tranquillity within its presence.

Should I get closer?

I took hesitant steps towards the dog, who stood perfectly still in front of the church.

"Who are you, buddy?" I said to the dog, who didn't react to my hand reaching to pet it.

"Kolya?" I heard a voice behind me say, but when I turned around there was no one there.

I opened my eyes to a bright light shining into my eyes. The floor felt cold against my back and I felt extremely dizzy. My eyes darted around the place and I recognised the chaos: I was at the convenience store, lying on the ground. So I wasn't dead…

The person holding the flashlight was just my new partner in crime, Kai Hiwatari, standing behind one of the toppled shelves. He had a very odd expression on his face. "How did you…?" He began to ask, but I didn't let him finish. My previous state of panic was immediately replaced by rapid vivid rage.

"You're crazy! You wanted me to die!" I shouted at him, getting up so fast that my vision got dark for a few seconds.

His stoic expression didn't change.

"You bastard!" I wanted to fly on his neck and beat him up right there. He was lucky to have a physical barrier to block all of my impulses towards him. It would have been awkward to climb the shelves first to fight him, so I resorted to kicking the closest object. The sound seemed to startle him slightly but not enough. It surely hurt my feet, but I hid my pain so he wouldn't get to revel in it.

I hated how apathetic he was. Did he only want to solve his stupid ghost case without a care if I died?

A feeling of dread downed on me. "You wanted to use me as bait, didn't you?" It was obvious. He wanted me to be useful to him. That was the deal, after all.

Hiwatari finally started to react. "This ghost is volatile, but not dangerous." He began to say very calmly, not even acknowledging how mad I was at him. "But yes, I did use you as bait since I deemed it fairly safe. Didn't think you would be so scared you would faint, though."

As much as I wanted to keep talking back and being as angry as I could, I took a few minutes to internalise what he had just said. It was true that Hiromi didn't seem dangerous at all, I came out completely unharmed when she moved everything around. But how could he even tell this?

I peered into the darkness of the store, the only light coming from Hiwatari. Where did Hiromi go? "I saw her."

"Who?"

"The store's manager. She's the ghost."

He stayed quiet for a moment, looking very focused. "Wasn't the store manager with you during the incident?" There was a drop of doubt in his words. As much as I didn't trust him, the feeling was somewhat mutual.

"I worked with her for two months and didn't notice…" I lamented. I truly felt bad for her. But I was also very scared that something else would happen.

"She didn't look any different than a living person to you?" He asked, with the same tone he used during the interrogation.

"Not at all. I worked and interacted with her without even suspecting it." I said.

"The work here is done." I noticed the camera and tripod I had installed earlier were still intact as Hiwatari started walking towards the entrance to get it. "I have all the material I need. Get in the car."

It was an awkward car ride. Our trip to the store had been very imprudent, but he seemed to suddenly have remembered how to drive properly now. There was a mutual feeling of uneasiness in being in each other's presence. I tried to make small talk to fill in the silence.

"So, what does HPRC mean?" I asked, with genuine curiosity.

"Hiwatari Paranormal Research Centre"

"Wait… Hiwatari as in your family name? You own it?"

"You could say so." His thoughts seemed to be elsewhere and I didn't dare open my mouth.

I didn't like that he used me to get the ghost on video and he didn't seem to completely buy my story. The distrust lingered in the air, with me not daring to ask anything else and him not making any effort to ease my thoughts. I didn't get him.

He was odd. The city lights reflected on his eyes, the violet shifting their hue. Weirdly, I had dreamed about him before even meeting him.

Why was I even looking at him so intently right now?

I turned my head to watch the road as we came to a stop. He surprisingly was the first one to break the silence. "I want to offer you a position at the HPRC."

Those weren't the words I expected to come out of his mouth. "What?"

"I want you to work for me." He glared at me with those violet eyes.

I was too stunned to answer.

"I need someone with your skills for an ongoing case." He continued. "As far as I am aware, you're currently unemployed. We can pay more than any retail job and even desk jobs usually pay."

He started telling me the numbers, without any hesitation. It was odd seeing him spilling so much information when he was so secretive before. Where was the catch?

It was almost too good to be true for someone as unskilled and untrained as me. It would pay my rent and loans. I would finally be able to move out from that dingy place. The job paid well, but that was the stupidest job title I had ever heard.

"...of course, we ask you to be discreet about the nature of your work."

But the fact that I had to keep it a secret wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was having Kai Hiwatari as my boss. Well, it couldn't be worse than my ghost manager, right? I was desperate, and being a "ghost hunter" - or whatever stupid long title that guy wanted to call it - was my only option right now.