"Taniyama Mai, pick up the pace!"

Mai groaned as she dragged her feet across the outdoor field, listening to the gym teacher blow into his annoyingly insistent whistle. Summer was in full effect and the July sun was bearing down on her, making her PE uniform stick to her skin in an uncomfortable manner.

Ahead of her, a tussle for the soccer ball happened and it rolled, stopping right in front of her feet.

"Over here!" One of her classmates screamed at her, far too desperate for a casual game during gym class.

Mai kicked it with her foot and it rolled a small distance away, where someone of the other team grabbed it with ease, grinning at her in amusement. "Thanks, Taniyama." He said as he sped past, scoring against her team's goalie, Yasuhara.

A resounding yell erupted from her teammates, all screaming her name in annoyance that she had let another ball slip past her defense.

Mai threw up her arms. "What?! Yasu's the goalie, what about him?"

The gym teacher yelled her name again and motioned her over.

"Sorry, Bou-san." She said to the teacher casually as she approached. "It's intense out there. I let my emotions cloud my judgment."

Takigawa Houshou stood with his arms crossed over his chest, staring down at her. "It's sensei." He insisted uselessly. No matter how much he corrected the students, ever since they found out he used to be a monk, no one called him by his correct title.

"Sorry, Bou-sensei."

Bou-san's eye twitched.

Uh, oh.

"Laps."

Mai scrambled to defend herself, dread filling her at the threat. "I-I'll try harder! I swear—"

Bou-san's expression hardened, and he blew his whistle in her face loudly, pointing to the track. Mai sent him one last pleading look but he paid her no mind as she retreated, turning his attention back to the game.

She started a light job around the track, hoping he wouldn't notice her and add on to his punishment.

You see, most teachers had a specific punishment they used regularly. Sitting Seiza style in the hall, writing lines, or keeping your arms straight up were some of the most common ones. But Bou-san had an infamous punishment he bestowed upon his students that was both odd and genius at the same time.

"Ears, Mai, ears!" He yelled after her.

Mai let out a long sigh, reaching up and grabbing her ears with her fingers.

Odd, genius, and so humiliating.

"Hey, Mai-chan." A cheery voice greeted her as she entered the club room.

Mai smiled at Gene, dropping her bag on the long table. "Hey."

Gene's smile turned into something more mischievous, and he reached up, grabbing his ears with both of his hands. "Anything interesting happen today?"

Mai's face turned bright red as she understood the implication. "W-wha—how did you know that?" She swung around to glare at Yasu, who held his hands up in defense.

"Wasn't me."

Gene laughed at her expression, turning to the dark cloud at his side. "We saw you. Our classroom overlooks the track and field."

Mai glanced at Naru, who hadn't bothered to look up when his brother elbowed him and turned away quickly.

It had been a little over a month since she joined the Homework Club.

It wasn't as terrible as she thought it was going to be. Everything Yasu had said before was true. They mostly just hung out and screwed around, occasionally studying if someone had a test coming up.

She liked most of the members too.

John was perfectly nice and she enjoyed talking to him about his home country. Once Gene had gotten over his awkwardness about her and Naru, she clicked with him really well. Yasu, Gene, and her mostly spent the time joking with each other. As for Naru, he sat at the table quietly, never joining in, and just studied religiously. The two of them never spoke again after their official introduction on her first day and she was glad for it.

The door burst open as the last member of the Homework Club entered loudly.

Mai turned her back to him, dismayed.

Bou-san chuckled in amusement at her reaction, patting her on the head as he walked to his usual spot in the corner, where he laid out some old gym mats. "Happy to see me?"

Mai shoved his hand away. "I'm quitting this club if he's a member." She declared, causing laughter to ring out from Yasu and Gene. She crossed her arms with a huff. "I'm serious! Me or him, you must choose. Right now."

Bou-san fell onto the mats, leaning back as he got comfortable. "Well, wake me up when you decide. I'll have to let my boss know if the club is disbanding, seeing as I am the only teacher willing to be the advisor of it."

Gene raised an eyebrow at her. "I choose Bou-san."

Mai turned to John who quickly retreated with his hands up. "My Japanese is not good enough to understand the topic."

"Pulling the foreigner card, huh?" Yasu laughed and thought for a moment. "I'm choosing Mai-chan, solely for the tie breaker." He turned to the last member, who still hadn't looked up from his notes. "Well, Naru. Who do you choose?"

Mai stiffened.

Naru glanced up, briefly looking at her. "Mai."

Gene laughed. "Noll, you must still be holding that grudge against Bou-san for when he made you hold your ears and jog last year, huh?"

"I guess this will be our last meeting as the Homework Club—" As Yasu started his goodbye speech as the president of the club, Mai tried to not let it show how awkward she felt.

He had said her name. Her first name without honorifics. Before she could overthink any further, her thoughts were interrupted.

BANG

A loud slam from above them rang throughout the room.

There was a silent pause as everyone looked up at the ceiling.

Mai swallowed. "That sounded like a door slamming shut..."

Gene looked positively terrified. "No other clubs use this building but us."

"A ghost?" Yasu suggested, enjoying the scared looks on their faces. "Should we go check it out?"

"No!" Mai cried out before she could stop herself. When everyone looked at her, she composed her expression, laughing nervously. "I-I mean you guys can go. I'll stay here."

"Well, what do you say?" Yasu glanced at John and Gene, who both looked hesitant. As they left the room, Yasu grinned at her in a creepy manner. "Think it's the girl in the second desk?"

"Asshole." Mai huffed as the door closed behind them. She moved to sit down, her movements coming to an abrupt stop when she realized that she was now alone with Naru. Wait—she glanced back, all hope of avoiding an awkward silence disappearing when she saw that Bou-san was fast asleep.

A few moments passed where she waited for him to say something but he didn't even bother to look up, so she took that time to observe him secretly through the sides of her eyes.

After all, she had spent all of last year trying to catch a glimpse of him and here he was, right in front of her. She could look all she wanted to, seeing as he never took his eyes away from his notebook—

Azure flashed upwards, meeting her gaze.

Mai froze and he just waited, probably wondering if she had something to say.

"Uh, do you... believe in ghosts?"

She wanted to slap herself. Of all the things to ask, that was what came to mind?!

His lips quirked upwards in a sarcastic manner, and he looked back down at his paper. "Do you?"

Mai's mouth dropped open in disbelief at his obvious disregard. He could have just said no but he decided to go the annoying route and act all high and mighty, like believing in ghosts was stupid.

Well, he did call her stupid.

Mai's eye twitched and she started to tap her fingers against the table incessantly, the sound filling the room.

He stopped writing. "How long are you going to keep tapping like that?"

"I think anyone who doesn't believe in ghosts are close minded." Mai declared, continuing to tap her fingers with more vigor. She glanced up, giving him a tight lipped smile. "I mean, there are so many stories of people seeing ghosts and unexplainable things. What's not to believe?"

Naru leaned back, taking up the challenge. If she wanted to argue, then so be it. "Where's the evidence to support paranormal phenomena? Stories or watered down urban legends are not enough to convince me."

Silence followed his question and when he raised an eyebrow in a smug manner, Mai's arm shot forward, snatching his notebook from in front of him. His eyes widened when she ripped out his page full of notes and flipped it over so the blank side was showing.

"What are you—"

Her hand reached out. "Pencil."

Naru blinked before handing over his pencil obediently. He stayed quiet as he watched her draw an X across the paper, writing 'yes' and 'no' in four of the separate quadrants diagonally across from each other.

As she reached into her bag to pull out another pencil, he couldn't help it anymore and asked, "What is that?"

Mai grinned. "Charlie, Charlie."

"And who is Charlie?" He looked on unimpressed as she failed to balance one of the pencils on top of the other, and reached forward to do it for her. "Well?"

"I don't know who Charlie is." Was all she replied as she checked the pencil, making sure it was balanced correctly and lined up with the X. "But he's going to be your evidence."

"How so?"

Mai ignored his question and leaned back, looking down at the paper. "Charlie, Charlie, are you here?"

The two of them waited, Mai staring at the pencils in anticipation while Naru looked on blankly. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the pencil on top moved to the left.

Yes

"Okay, okay!" Mai moved forward in her seat excitedly, glancing up at him as she readjusted the pencils to the middle once more. "What should we ask it?"

"Am I an idiot for entertaining this?" He asked in a monotone manner.

The pencil moved.

Yes

Mai burst out laughing and Naru narrowed his eyes, moving his eyesight level with the table. "The table must be tilted." He said suspiciously.

"Or maybe you're just an idiot." Mai retorted as she moved the pencils back. "Okay, let's ask it a more serious question. Is there a spirit present in the old school building...?"

Yes

"It's tilted." Naru decided.

"No it's not!"

"It keeps moving one way." Mai rolled her eyes as he moved the paper around, trying to debunk it. "There, try again."

Mai sucked in a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. "Is the spirit a girl?"

Yes

"SEE?!" Mai jumped up as the pencil still moved to yes despite being in the opposite direction as before. "You ask a question now—a serious one."

Naru let out a sigh, moving to sit up as he stared at the pencils. "Is the spirit upstairs?"

No

Mai stared, feeling creeped out.

Naru asked again. "Is it... in the room with us?"

The pencil moved.

Yes

A hand landed on Mai's shoulder and she let out a piercing scream, the sound startling Naru so much that he fell out of his chair.

Bou-san grinned down at them. "Did I scare ya?"

Naru sighed, running his hand through his hair as he pushed himself up from the ground while Mai started to berate the teacher, looking red in the face.

"What's wrong?!" Gene burst into the room in a panic, the two other boys in tow. "We heard a scream."

Yasu laughed. "And Gene just about shit his—"

"What's that?" John asked curiously as he wandered over to the table, looking at the paper and pencils.

"Oooh, you guys were playing Charlie Charlie?" Yasu asked.

"What's Charlie Charlie?" John tilted his head.

"It's like an Ouija board—" Yasu's answer stopped short as a light bulb went off in his head, grinning in an ominous manner. Mai gulped, not liking the look in his eyes. "I know what we're going to do tomorrow." He said as he started to run around and grab his things. "I have to go and pull it out from the storage room, so I'm leaving early!"

Seeing as club hours were almost over anyways, Mai followed his lead and quickly packed up her things as well. She did not want to be the last one left in the old school building, especially after today. "See you guys tomorrow!" She said as she hurried towards the door, listening to the resounding responses.

"Mai."

She turned to see Naru walking towards her, holding out her pencil. "Oh." Mai blinked, reaching for it. "I didn't realize—" Their hands brushed together momentarily, and she felt her breath catch. "T-thanks."

Naru nodded in response, his hand retreating from hers.

Mai left, clenching the handle of her school bag tightly as she walked down the hallway. She could feel her cheeks starting to turn warm.

"How pathetic, Mai." She whispered to herself furiously, shaking her head. Letting your heart get shaken up by such a small thing.