The Knight Of Mahora Academy

Period 27: The Possession of Naruto Uzumaki

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

"He stayed to talk with the ghost?"

"That's right!" Negi happily replied as he proudly regaled the other girls with the tale of his and Naruto's adventure to find the ghost haunting their class and how they met Sayo. The little redhead smiled fondly as he spoke of his friend's bravery, "Nii-San was extremely scared when we started but when he met Sayo-San he started easing up and speaking with her. He decided to stay behind and talk with her a little longer while I went to bed."

"Aww," Konoka cupped her cheek and cooed in delight, "Our little boy is growing up!"

Kyūbi chuckled, "Now that is a surprise. There is nothing in this world that scares him more than ghosts or specters. But to think it would be coming to this school and speaking with some lowly little spirit haunting your class that would finally get him to overcome that fear." The fox scoffed, "Maybe the trip out here was worth all the trouble."

"I'm very proud of him." Setsuna admitted with a smile as she looked up at the clouds, "We spoke recently about if he ever needed help, he shouldn't be afraid to ask us for it. And I feel like if it was before he came to this school, he would have kept avoiding ghosts and what he is afraid of." Kyūbi nodded firmly at the swordswoman's deduction, "So knowing that he is trying to overcome some of his fears, and not doing it alone…makes me proud to know he wants to better himself."

Asuna had to smile as well. She hadn't known Naruto for very long but she got a pretty good read on him being a hard-headed person. Taking on the fights in Kyoto and tanking the petrification from the demon and trying to take care of himself while he was sick seemed to support this idea. So hearing that he was trying to do better with getting help from others to put a smile on her face.

She perked up as well once she spotted the man himself a little further down the path, "Speak of the devil. Whiskers! Over here!"

It took a moment for the others to spot Naruto among the crowd as well since they didn't have Asuna's extraordinary vision. However, they did finally see their whiskered blond friend among the crowd of students making their way through the morning routine.

However, as he made his way over the others couldn't help but notice something was off.

Konoka tilted her head, "Does he seem a little strange this morning? Do you think he got something to eat?"

"And he's running rather peculiarly," Setsuna noted.

"A-And he just tripped." Negi flinched as he saw his older friend fall over and then rub his nose before picking himself up, "That's odd."

"Did he even get any sleep? Or was he talking with that ghost all night?" Naruto finally came over to them and doubled over, holding onto his knees to prop himself up and catch his breath, "Geez Whiskers, you look beat. What's wrong with you?"

"N-Negi-sensei!" They were startled when Naruto's voice came out an octave higher and with frantic fear in it as tears filled his eyes, "I-I-I need your help! W-We have a problem! I-I screwed up!"

"Oh boy." Kyūbi grumbled, "I bet something stupid happened."

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

"YOU POSSESSED HIM?!"

"Yep, called it. Something stupid."

"I-I'm sorry!" Sayo wept in Naruto's body as she bowed deeply to the group of concerned friends, "I-I didn't mean to take over!"

Asuna rubbed her eyes tiredly, "Yep, should have known this was going to go sideways." With a sigh, she nodded, "Okay, how did this happen?"

Sayo sniffled and rubbed her eyes, "W-Well, after Negi-sensei left for the night, Naruto-sensei and I continued our conversation. We talked for a bit until he asked me if there was anything I regretted or missed about being alive. And after I told him, h-he offered to let me possess his body so that I could do some of those things."

"HE LET YOU POSSESS HIM?!"

"That's right. And when he did he said I should go do all the little things I've been wanting to do since I became a ghost." She muttered sadly, "He even said I could use his money to buy food and drinks because I haven't eaten in years."

"Awww." They looked at Konoka strangely after she let out a quick cooing. The brunette girl nodded, "I know this is a dire situation but that sounds sweet."

"So I finally got to eat and drink the stuff again and interact with people around me and I appreciated it." Sayo recounted with tears filling her eyes before she quickly wiped them away, "But when I tried to leave his body it didn't work! I-I pushed! I tried fading out! I thought of happy things with pixie dust and it didn't do anything!"

"W-Well," Setsuna struggled to sound optimistic, "As nice as it was for him to think about her situation and help her however he could-"

"You don't need to save face for him, Sword Girl. He was being stupid."

"Considerate but stupid, yeah." Asuna reluctantly agreed with the grumpy demon before looking around at her friends, "Is there anything we can do? I mean should we be worried?"

"Hold on," Kyūbi grumbled from Konoka's arms as he closed his eyes and got a read on Naruto's soul. Through their connection he sensed his partner's life force still in his body, subdued but still present, "He's alive. I mean obviously, he's alive but nothing is wrong with his soul. With Ghost Girl in control, his soul has gone dormant inside his body. He's sleeping right now, and while he's like that he can't force her soul back out."

Asuna sighed, "Well it's a relief to at least hear he's alive." Her shoulders sagged before she turned to Negi, "Okay Negi, your turn."

"H-Huh?"

"You're up. Try to get her out of Whiskers."

"U-Um," The little 10-year-old floundered under his students' gaze as he nervously gripped his staff, "A-Actually, my specialty in school was dealing with weak spirits and the study I looked over was the exorcism of ghosts from a location." The young redhead shook his head sadly, "I don't have any experience with possessions."

"Oh. Well what about you, Setsuna-San?"

"Well, the Shinmei school has many techniques for exorcising spirits and demons." Setsuna quickly responded as she started informing her friends, "However the ones I know are simply the most basic of skills. But there are far more experienced practitioners who have learned the second stage of skills that can exorcise corrupt spirits from their hosts without even harming the innocent. If I reached out to them-"

"Setsuna-neesan," Chamo quickly piped up, "Just to clarify…do any of these techniques exorcise the spirit from the host while also not destroying the spirit?"

Setsuna opened her mouth to respond…only to pause in thought. She cupped her chin and tilted her head curiously, "Not hurting the spirit? Um…I'm not certain."

The others sighed heavily. Konoka gave a strained giggle, "Well I think we'll need to consider our options. Sorry, Sayo-chan but it looks like you'll need to walk around in Naruto-kun's body for a little longer."

"O-Oh, w-well…"

The others quickly noticed that Naruto's body was shuffling back and forth on his feet. Negi asked, "Sayo-San, is something the matter?"

"U-Um, I-I just thought that you would be able to get me out of here quickly."

"I'm sorry but we don't have any methods that wouldn't end up hurting either you or Nii-San. If you'll be patient-"

"N-No what I mean is," The ghost girl moaned and shut her eyes, "I was panicking a lot while trying to get out of Naruto-sensei's body and had to calm myself down. So I tried walking around, having some snacks and drinking. A-And I ended up drinking a lot. And I was hoping you would be able to get me out of his body fast because…I-"

Her hands lowered past her waist and the others quickly gasped in horror.

"I-I really need to go to the bathroom."

"O-Oh, dear."

"This is bad."

Negi waved his arms frantically, "T-Then you need to go to the bathroom! It's not healthy to hold it in! As your teacher, I am concerned about your health, o-or Nii-San's health in this case."

"Negi, you remember she's a ghost, right?"

"I-I know it's bad to hold it in, b-but I think it's a massive breach of privacy if I go to the bathroom in Sensei's body!" Sayo cried out as Naruto's face went beet red, "A-And I was trying to hold it as long as I could and crossed my legs together but when I did that I felt something rub and get stiff and I felt weird-"

"WHOA!" Chamo quickly yelled and waved his paws around, "TMI! TMI!" He looked back and saw Asuna, Setsuna, and Konoka all blushing from her recounting, "You gotta leave some of Aniue's dignity intact! Some of the mystery!"

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

Sayo stood before the boys' restroom and blushed profusely before whimpering out, "C-Can't I just go to the girls' room instead?"

"No, you can't!" Asuna harshly whispered as other girls started going in and out of the room to the side, "Whisker's reputation would take a serious hit if you walk in there like that!"

"B-But I've never been in the boys' restroom before."

"I-It's okay, Sayo-San." Negi comforted the ghost possessing his friend, "It's much like the girls' room, only…well-"

"Messy." Chamo sadly confessed, "You'd think it'd be cleaner since we can aim…but nope."

"H-Here, Sayo-San." Negi pulled out a handkerchief, "I'll go in with you until you reach the stall. After that tie that around your eyes and sit down. I-I suppose the rest is just nature."

"R-Right." Sayo nervously agreed and bowed her head to everyone, "I'm so sorry for all the trouble!"

Asuna waved her off, "This just seems like another drop in the bucket."

As Sayo walked in and Negi followed, Asuna stood guard with Konoka and Setsuna by the door. As students walked by and looked at the three girls standing in front of the boys' room their faces started to feel hot and they shuffled around in embarrassment.

Asuna closed her eyes and mumbled, "Did you think when we had to keep a little English kid in our room that it would lead to helping a ghost go to the bathroom?"

Konoka giggled, "Well, it has been a very eventful school year for us."

Setsuna closed her eyes, "I've been involved in many strange occurrences over the years, b-but this is a new one."

"This is the magic world we live in."

"Sensei! This feels strange!"

"Power through, Sayo-San! Power through!"

"Yep. A real marvel."

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

The girls and Negi made their way back to class after the eventful little trip with Sayo. The ghost girl inhabiting the blond boy's body sighed in relief as they walked along, "Thank goodness."

"Feeling better, Sayo-chan?"

"Yes, thank you very much." Sayo smiled before looking down at the body she inhabited sadly, "But I still wish there was a way to get out of Sensei's body. He showed so much faith and trust in me by letting me into his body and I'm squandering it."

Asuna patted her back, "Look, Whiskers is a lot of things, but one to hold grudges usually isn't one of them. I'm sure if you explain once you're out then that will go a long way towards making up to him."

"That's right." Konoka nodded, "Although I'm not sure if Naruto-kun will be jumping at the chance to let you use his body again."

"T-That's fair."

"For now we'll just have to wait." Negi advised his friends as they arrived at the door to 3-A, "We'll focus on class, try to think of a few ideas, and then we'll find a way to separate Sayo-San from Nii-San. Let's just relax for now-"

They opened the door-

"Who you gonna call?!"

"GHOSTBUSTERS!"

And walked in on most of the girls crowding around Yuna, Haruna, Makie, Kazumi, and Sakurako as they had very hefty, probably extremely dangerous glowing backpacks hanging off them.

"You know, I've always wanted to know what it would be like to be one of those cool action heroes from 80's movies," Haruna commented before her eyes started to water and her lip began quivering. She pulled off her glasses and dried her eyes, "I'm so happy I ended up in this class."

Kazumi chuckled, "I'd like to interview that ghost if possible but I think it might be safer to do it from a container than out in the open."

Sakurako giggled, "I'm not sure how I got roped into this but it seems like fun so let's go!"

Makie cried, "I don't know why I'm doing this either! I don't wanna fight ghosts!"

"But you're the one the ghost contacted first! You should be the one to face it and conquer the trauma!"

"But I don't want to!"

"This'll be fun!" Yuna proclaimed while turning on her pack. As it started to rev up and make some very loud, unsettling sounds you wouldn't want to hear from a device on your back, Yuna looked over at the geniuses, "H-Hey, these things are safe, right?"

"You bet!" With that ringing endorsement, Chao gave a thumbs-up while Satomi avoided direct eye contact, "We went over the data and it looks like there's only an 80% chance of catastrophic failure!"

"That's really high!"

"Well, we didn't have very long to perfect the thing! Plus it's better than the 90% failure it was at conception!"

"Yuna don't fret the small stuff! Just do your best and we'll remember you fondly!"

"Gah!" The pony-tailed girl grunted before clicking her teeth, "Whatever!" She and the others turned to the haunted seat and aimed the ends of their weapons, "Light 'em up, girls!"

The five members of the ghost extermination squad aimed their proton packs at the place they expected the ghost girl to be. As the backpacks started to ring out loudly-

Everyone's except Sakurako's exploded in a violent burst of smoke. And as they stood slightly charred by the explosions, Sakurako just flipped the switch a few times before pouting, "Aww, it's broken."

As everyone looked at the crispy remains of their friends drop to their knees, Ayaka sighed heavily, "Yes, well I assumed that it would end like this. Fortunately, I planned ahead and already enacted Plan B! Tatsumiya-San is going to collect her tools to perform a professional exorcism."

"No time!" Misa yelled, "We need to do this fast! Going to Plan C!" She waved her hand out, "Kasuga! Get to work!"

"M-Me?! But I'm still just an apprentice! I can't do exorcisms or stuff like that!"

"Yeah well we're down a young priest and an old priest so you'll have to do!"

The nun in training gasped and shrunk under the attention before she sighed. Retrieving her cross she approached the seat and waved it over the space above it, "T-The power of Christ compels you!"

The runner stepped back and nodded, "I think that did it."

"THAT WAS USELESS!"

"WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK!"

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN PAY ME!"

"WE STILL WANT A REFUND!"

The new arrivals looked at all the pandemonium with pinholes eyes as things quickly devolved from there. Negi spotted Nodoka and Yue standing to the side and realized they would be the sole space of clarity in the sea of madness, "Y-Yue-San! Nodoka-San! What's going on?"

"N-Negi-sensei."

"I'm glad you're here, Negi-sensei." The more composed little librarian greeted her teacher with a quick nod before looking back over the class, "We need serious guidance right now. Everyone is talking about their run-ins with the specter that they believe is haunting the class. Apparently, several of our classmates can recount moments last night when the ghost came to their rooms and haunted them. No one was hurt but it sounds quite chilling." The short little philosopher looked to her teacher, "Sensei, I was always rather skeptical about spirits and lingering souls still clinging to our world. However in light of…recent revelations," She said rather cryptically so as not to draw attention to the trust and secrets she had been made privy to, "Sensei, is all of this possible? Could it be true that we've been going to class with a ghost all this time and only now are finding out about it?"

"Um…y-yes, it is indeed possible. It – uh – well it's a funny story."

Nodoka and Yue watched as their young teacher giggled nervously as Asuna, Setsuna, and Konoka looked at a sheepish, guilty Naruto as he hung his head.

Nodoka asked, "Sensei, i-is something going on?"

"W-Well that's the funny part."

"Negi-kun!" Haruna yelled out, smoke and soot coming off her body as she rushed between her friends and grabbed the young boy by the shoulders, "This is no time to be cute and develop friendships and trust! We need action! There's a ghost in our class-"

Sayo trembled, "U-Um-"

"The mad scientists have failed-"

"A bit presumptuous to think we failed after only one attempt." Chao grumbled with a pout.

"And religion hasn't given us any answers-"

"Shocker," Eva mumbled under her breath as she watched the madness with a detached enjoyment.

"So, we're running out of options!" She started waving the little Welshman around frantically, "If the boy genius has got any ideas for us, now would be the time! We gotta deal with this thing now!"

Negi moaned as he flailed around like a wet towel as his eyes turned into spirals, "D-Deal with it in what regard?"

"The ghost doesn't want to hurt us, right?!"

"But why does it keep haunting us?!"

"What can we do?!"

"MY UI MUST BE AVENGED!"

The class started to get into an uproar about what they could do and how they should deal with this ghosting issue. Sayo looked around nervously and started to shrink back as she saw all the worry she had caused and everyone wanting to deal with her. She was on the brink of crying and running away before-

"UH-HUM!" Everyone went quiet and attention turned to Konoka as she coughed into her fist. Once she knew everyone was looking at her the young Konoe smiled, "How about before we resort to exorcising this ghost, we take a chance to talk to her?"

"Talk to her?"

"That's right." Konoka handed Asuna her bag and rolled up her sleeves as she walked over to the first seat, "Luckily you have a gifted young member of the Fortunetelling club right here in class! It should be super easy for me to commit a séance and commune with this wayward spirit!"

"Do fortunetellers usually do séances-"

"Shh!" Konoka quickly shushed the others as she stood in front of the seat and waved her arms around theatrically while making some weird noises. After a moment her face pinched in discomfort, "This is a difficult spirit to speak with! I may need some help! A medium so that the ghost can contact us and – Naruto-kun! You'll do!"

All eyes turned to the possessed blond as Sayo let out a gasp of surprise, "M-Me?"

"Yes! Help me communicate with this ghost and clear things up!"

Setsuna's eyes sparkled in realization as Asuna hummed, "Oh, that's a good idea."

Negi marveled at Konoka's simple yet ingenious solution as Chamo nodded, "Konoka-neechan is a pretty bright young lady."

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

"Okay, I shall be conjuring the spirit from here." Konoka said as Sayo sat down next to her, "Everyone, if anybody has questions for the spirit, please just ask Naruto-kun. He will be the medium for you to talk through."

Sayo quickly nodded, "H-Hello! I-I'll be in your care!"

"Why is Naruto-kun going to speak for the ghost?"

"Maybe so that we can settle this and get back to class?"

"Yeah, but why is he helping? He seemed pretty scared the other day when he saw the ghost."

"Oh, maybe this is his way of conquering his fear!"

Sayo felt a drop of sweat run down her temple as she remembered that was what had started this whole mess in the first place. As Makie sat down across from him the nervous gymnast leaned in and whispered, "Naruto-kun, is this going to work? I mean what if all this playing around makes the ghost mad? Can't you and Negi-kun-"

"I-I would never be mad at you, Makie-San!" Sayo quickly clarified, holding a hand to her chest as she honestly spoke to the young gymnast, "I just want you to know that no matter how we may interact from now, I-I never meant to make you think I was angry!"

Makie blinked in confusion and looked around at everyone watching. With a shrug and deciding it was best to just play along, she nodded, "O-Okay, but why were you doing all that haunting and scary stuff? I-It was really creepy."

"I-I didn't mean to scare any of you. I only wanted to help you with your haunted house." Sayo squirmed in her seat and twiddled her fingers together, "Everyone is working so hard to make the haunted house in time for the festival and I should help too as a student of this class."

"You were helping?"

"That's right. You wanted the tape but couldn't find it, remember? So I tried to hand it to you."

"O-Oh yeah." Makie blinked in surprise, her earlier disbelief now all but vanished as she got sucked into the drama of the moment, "B-But then why did you scrawl that big 'help' into the mirror like you were in pain?"

"I just wanted to help you with your makeup because…w-well you looked like you were struggling."

"I-I wasn't doing that badly!" Makie flinched when she felt the icy glares falling on her and looked back at Ako, Yuna, and Akira's scrupulous gazes, "O-Okay, I might not be the best with makeup."

"I just wanted to help you, Makie-San." Sayo admitted, "You are such a hard worker. You always put your all into your gymnastics. I can't help very much, but if there's anything I can do I want to be of assistance."

Makie's eyes started to water while looking at Naruto before she wept, "Putting on makeup is so hard! There are so many steps! There should be tutorials or something!"

Many girls opened their mouths to retort before they realized there was no point and just stayed quiet.

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

Kazumi smirked and held up her recorder as she sat across from the blond. A glint in her eye as she prepared to challenge Naruto's act with some personal questions, "How exactly did you meet your unfortunate end?"

Sayo smiled, "Oh, I'm not sure."

Kazumi blinked repeatedly in silence before slowly nodding, "Okay~, then what about your regrets? What keeps you tethered to this world?"

"Um, I'm not quite sure myself."

Kazumi clicked the stop button and let out a hefty sigh before standing up, "Okay I was willing to play along but if you won't even entertain me then I'm done here."

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

Hakase jotted notes down, "Do you need any form of energy to sustain yourself?"

"N-Not really."

"What about sleep?"

"Well sometimes I like to close my eyes for a bit but I'm not sure if that is real sleep."

"Hmm, perhaps you're committing these deeds because you're still used to the habit of doing it while alive? Do you breathe and do you have a heartbeat?"

"I-I don't have a heartbeat, but I think I breathe?"

"Fascinating."

"Prof is taking this a bit too seriously."

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

The chair was very slowly, very deliberately dragged back from the table. Sayo couldn't help but buckle under the tension as Chisame eyed her dangerously. The bespectacled girl pulled the seat back in towards her and sat down, her eyes unwavering daggers of ice planted firmly on the ghost girl possessing his body.

"Aww, even Chisame-chan is playing along." Sakurako cooed.

The ginger-haired girl fixed her glasses and growled, "I'm not sure what game this is supposed to be, or what your goal is, but it doesn't matter. I'm not sure why you're trying to build up sympathy for a ghost but it won't work." Chisame's fist started to tighten on the table as her voice lowered to a growl, "I can never, ever forgive that damn specter for what it did."

Chisame's fist slammed into the table as tears streamed down her face, "SHE WRECKED MY GODDAMN COMPUTER! SHE APPEARED OVER MY SCREENS IN SOME TWISTED POLTERGEIST ATTEMPT TO COMMUNICATE AND NOW ALL I GET IS STATIC!"

Satomi gasped in horror and Chachamaru attempted to do the same in her plain monotone. Chao dabbed her eyes and sobbed, "You hate to see it."

"It's not fair!" Chisame lamented as she nearly curled up and ground her teeth together, "I put so much work into that system. If my hard drive had been corrupted too I might have just gone scorched earth and torched everything. But I still lost all the progress I put into the new webpage! Hours and hours of coding and troubleshooting down the drain in just a minute! It's agony!"

Many of the other girls listened to the dread and despair in the reserved girl's voice and tilted their heads. Asuna had steam coming out of her ears as she tried to wrap her head around it, "Is it that tough?"

"It is! It really is!" Chao and Satomi exclaimed, "You have no idea how much time and effort goes into making a few lines of code perfect so it doesn't crash a system!"

"All of it thrown away - it's awful!"

"I-I'm so sorry, Chisame-San." Sayo whimpered pitifully with tears in her eyes, "I-I never meant to impede or hamper your work."

"Well, that's good to hear! Because it was!" The usually reserved girl cried out, "I don't even know why I'm saying this crap to you! You're not the freaking ghost who did it! You're just the weirdo playing the part!"

"B-But still I'm sorry!" Sayo persisted, startling Chisame with the intensity in her words as she announced, "I was just amazed at all the remarkable work you put into your website! I could see all the love and attention and passion in it! And when I did I thought I could help! B-But I see now that was just a mistake." Sayo looked up at Chisame resolutely, "But I swear that I will make it up to you somehow! Just say the word and I will come to make up for my mistake! I promise!"

Chisame looked at the blond boy like he had just grown a second head, "What-"

"Chisame-San," She looked over as Chao smiled, "As fellow computer geeks that have felt the sting of that pain before, allow us to assist you with your setup. I'm sure we could get it back up and work with a little prep."

Chisame seemed to consider that for a moment before looking back at Naruto and his oddly serious expression. She sighed and nodded, "Yeah, that sounds good. Geez, what came over me? Whining about a ghost? Have I lost my mind? Like anything crazy like ghosts could be in this class."

The Mages, demons, vampires, hybrids, mad scientists, ninjas, princesses, robots, and twins of the room didn't feel a need to pipe up.

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

"Did you ever participate in the festival before?"

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

"Who are your favorite actors?"

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

"If you've been in this class for decades then you must know if anyone has done it in this room, right?!" Haruna asked excitedly with a smirk, "If you answer anything other than yes I won't believe this little act you're putting on!"

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

Misa yawned, "Well that was fun. A good way to kill time."

"Plus it eased everyone's nerves with the ghost." Madoka noted.

"And Naruto-kun was so good acting like a medium!" Sakurako swooned, "Ah, it was like watching a professional improv actor!"

"Natsumi-chan, maybe you should recruit him for the theater club?"

"Chizu-nee, stop it."

Asuna smiled hearing the others talk so brightly and leaned down towards Negi, "Hey, I think Sayo-chan is doing a good job changing everyone's mind about her."

"I think so too!" Negi nodded happily as he was glad to see the class change their outlook on the ghost and Sayo acting much more lively while interacting with others, "I know this all started by accident, but I do think Nii-San will be proud to see the result. Things are working out-"

The door to their class opened as Mana walked in decked out in her work gear, "My apologies. It took more time to collect my gear than I expected."

"M-Mana!" Setsuna quickly reacted to her roommate's arrival, stepping up to meet the dark-skinned girl directly with a disarming smile, "Where have you been?"

"Getting my gear ready for an exorcism." She tapped the specialized firearm secured to her waist, "I doubt this ghost is very strong but if it's avoided notice for all these years then we can't be too careful. I'd say you should get dressed too but it seems excessive to have us both-"

"I-It's not necessary." Setsuna said with a nervous laugh, trying not to tip off her roommate and occasional partner, "You see Ojou-sama has started a séance to commune with the host and understand it better so we don't have to-"

Mana walked by Setsuna and ignored the excuses the clumsy girl was trying to make. Her eyes focused on the crowd of students around Naruto and Konoka, causing her eyes to narrow suspiciously. As she approached Naruto spotted her from the corner of his eye-

And smiled, "Good morning, Tatsumiya-San."

Mana stared at him silently before approaching the table. She looked at Konoka, "Can I have a turn to talk?"

Konoka smiled brightly, "Of course! Naruto-kun is our medium to Sayo-chan so ask away."

Mana smiled pleasantly, "That's nice of you, Naruto-sensei."

Sayo smiled back brightly, "Thank you very much, Tatsumiya-San."

The class went quiet as Mana drew her gun and pressed it to Naruto's head in a flash. Everything went silent and no one dared make a move after they had witnessed in an instant how the pleasant atmosphere suddenly turned into a hostage situation.

"He's possessed."

Sayo whimpered, "H-Huh?"

"You're possessing him. Plain as day. Dress it up as speaking through a medium but you aren't fooling me."

Ayaka gulped, "U-Um, Tatsumiya-San? Are you sure about that? And that you're not - well - pointing a gun at Naruto-sensei."

"If he was acting as a medium he'd still be conscious and aware enough to interact like he usually does. He doesn't call me by my name. He goes out of his way to refer to me with an annoying nickname like Captain Trigger Happy."

"I-It's a little hard to dissuade him of that decision when you're holding him at gunpoint like that."

"Plus…I can tell." Mana's eye tinted unusually as Sayo shuddered under her intense gaze, "There is a different energy around him. This is the work of a spirit." Mana tilted her head, "Or just tell me I'm wrong."

"I-I-I-" Sayo's eyes frantically shifted around the room and saw everyone watching her before she panicked.

Her hand swung out and slapped the side of Mana's gun, stunning the gunner as her bullet fired aside before Sayo rushed away, "I'M SORRRYYYYYY - OW! DOORS!"

Mana immediately collected herself, drew another pistol, and gave chase.

"What just happened?"

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

"Ah, Naruto-sensei, there you are." Nitta nodded, "I could use your help-"

"KYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Naruto ran right past him and straight down the hall.

"Come back here!"

Mana called out with her guns at the ready.

Nitta stared in the direction they ran in confusion.

"Wait!"

"Mana stop!"

"Tatsumiya-San!"

Many others from 3-A ran by after them.

Nitta fixed his glasses and went on his way.

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

"Please stop Tatsumiya-San!" Sayo cried out as she ducked under a bullet, "I didn't mean to possess him! It was an accident!" She slid aside and avoided another wave of projectiles, "Please don't shoot me! I'm not a fighter!"

"Then how are you dodging all of these so well?"

"I-I think Naruto-sensei's body is acting on reflex!"

Mana scoffed, "Somehow that answer annoys me even more." She got a good lock on Naruto's back and aimed-

"Mana! Stop!"

Setsuna's blade clashed with her gun and misaligned the shot. Mana clicked her tongue and repositioned herself, running along the hallway to keep after Sayo as she engaged in a clash of blows with Setsuna, "Get out of my way, Setsuna! I was hired for an exorcism and I will see it through!"

"But Sayo-San isn't a malicious spirit! She simply can't get out of Naruto-sensei's body!"

"How does a spirit that possesses people and does not leave their bodies not sound malicious?"

"Because he invited her to do so!"

Mana sweated and sighed, the gun and sword still clashing at blinding speeds, "His idiocy is not a reason for me not to do my job."

"But we're looking for a way to get her out of his body!"

"I have a way."

"One that won't just exorcise her! A-And won't those bullets injure Sensei?!"

Mana shrugged, "Neither of those things is my objective."

"You don't have to look so happy about it!"

"I resent that. I don't take joy in exorcising spirits."

"That's not the part you're happy about!"

"And you're okay with this?" Mana questioned, "Her inhabiting his body until you find some way to get her out? Aren't you fond of him?"

Setsuna blushed, "W-What?! What makes you say that?!"

"The Pactio. The friendship. I heard you talking with him through telepathy late at night. You've talked about him lately more than your Ojou-sama."

Setsuna went atomic, "I-I-I-Impossible! I-I would never talk about Ojou-sama less-"

Mana saw her chance and lined her guns up with Naruto's back.

Only for Setsuna's blade to flash down and cut through the barrels.

That left her open to the flashbang thrown towards her face and exploding to temporarily blind her.

Mana rushed ahead, "You called my bluff, Setsuna. You could never stop talking about your lady." She chased after Sayo and caught her in a dead-end corner of the building, causing the blond body she possessed to slide down the wall helplessly. Mana retrieved a smaller gun from her waist and aimed it down at her, "My apologies, but you'll find salvation in the next life."

"W-Wait, please." Sayo whimpered as she closed her eyes, "I-I finally found people-"

"Tatsumiya-San! Wait!" Negi flew in on his staff and slid to a stop before standing defensively in front of the weeping Sayo, "You can't exorcise her! Please!"

"Sensei," She whispered before narrowing her eyes. She was about to finish the job before she felt a presence behind her. Sparing a look back she saw Setsuna had recovered from the flash and had her blind spot in her sight. With a sigh the mercenary lowered her gun, "I suggest you come up with another plan quick before my professional pride kicks in again."

Negi quickly turned to the whimpering blond, "Sayo-San, it's okay. You're safe now, but we need to hurry. I-I'm not sure what to do. We need to get you out of his body-"

"I-I'm sorry Sensei." Sayo sobbed, "I don't know what else to do. I-I've focused and concentrated and pushed and I don't know what to-"

There was a sudden hit on the window that startled all of them and got their attention.

A giant monster costume lumbered by before looking their way, "Sorry about that."

"KYAAAAAAAAAA-"

Sayo shrieked and flew out of Naruto's body-

"-AAAAAA - re you! C'mon, what have you got…to…" Naruto's sudden chipper voice cut through the scream before the blond paused and realized that Negi had suddenly appeared in front of him instead of Sayo, "Negi?"

"N-Nii-San?"

"What are you doing here? I thought you went to bed." He looked up at Sayo, "And why are you…" He looked over and saw Mana and Setsuna looking at him in baffled silence, "And when did they…" He finally looked around, "What's with the scene change? Why are we in the hallway?" He tried to pick himself up, "And why are my pants wet?"

"O-Oh." Sayo meekly whispered, "I-I was more scared of Tatsumiya-San, a-and the guns, a-and the monster than I thought. I-I did try to get it all out when I was in the stall-"

"Hmm," Mana hummed, "That old fortuneteller was right."

"Okay," Naruto aimlessly nodded, "What the fuck is going on?"

"Tatsumiya-San!" They all looked over as Ayaka and the others of 3-A finally caught up to them. Some of the girls were taking a second to catch their breath as the class president stepped forward, "I know there's a cancellation fee for your services but I would like to formally request that we cancel the exorcism job."

"Very well." Mana holstered her gun and looked at Setsuna, "See that? All you had to do was outbid her. Why didn't you try that?"

"What fortune do you think I possess that would let me pay for your ludicrously hiked-up prices?"

"I'd give you a discount."

"Of what? 5%? A discount like that for your regular amount would still put a dent in my life savings!"

"Okay, I've lost time! Can someone please explain what the fuck is going on right now?"

"T-That's her."

"Oh my goodness."

"She's cuter than I expected."

Sayo looked over and realized that her classmates were looking at her. The ghost girl gasped in shock as she realized that everyone was finally noticing her. She fretted for a moment before turning to face them all, "H-Hello everyone, my name is Sayo Aisaka, class seat #01 in Class 3-A. I-It's a pleasure to meet all of you finally."

Negi stood up from his spot in front of Naruto. He walked over to face Sayo and smiled, offering his hand to the ghost, "Sayo-San, we're sorry we haven't noticed you in so long. I think…it's time you joined us in preparing for the festival, right?"

Sayo looked at the hand he offered and felt a lightness take over her. She smiled warmly…

And faded away.

3-A watched in stunned silence as Sayo disappeared before their very eyes. Their breaths came out in shocked gasps as they saw the ghost vanish from this realm. There were no words that crossed their lips after watching the specter that had been with them all this time suddenly fade away before they had the chance to…

To be a class.

The girls turned to make their way back to class. And Negi lingered back with Naruto as they looked at the spot Sayo had occupied moments ago…

Only for her to reappear, "I-I'm sorry. I lost focus and faded for a moment. I-I would like to - wait, where is everyone?"

"You know I bet this would just pull at the heartstrings if I had some context." Naruto spat bitterly, "So anyone?"

"Y-Yes, I need to tell you what happened."

"Me too, Nii-San. It started-"

"Wait." Naruto held out his hand and stopped them, "Negi, can you head back to the room and get me some new drawers?"

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

Naruto walked ahead with a firm gait as Negi, Asuna, Setsuna, and Konoka followed by his side. They had told him everything that had happened since last night…

And now he walked ahead with a dour pout on his face. At least he hadn't exploded. That was a plus.

"I-I'm sorry, Sensei." Sayo floated by them and bowed her head apologetically, "I didn't mean to possess you for that long."

"I know Sayo-chan," Naruto said with a long sigh, "Just sucks that I missed all this stuff."

"You got no one else to blame but yourself." Asuna said with an uncaring shrug, "I mean you let a stray spirit inhabit your body. What result did you think you were getting?"

Naruto grumbled and sighed, "Yeah, fair enough." His expression lightened a little before he looked to Sayo, "What about you, Sayo-chan? Problems aside was it fun driving me around?"

"Oh yes! Thank you so much, Naruto-sensei!" The ghost girl responded earnestly, "I got to try so many things I haven't had in decades and I got to talk to my class and now I can interact with them!"

"They thought you moved on, Sayo-San."

With a relieved smile he nodded, "Well then, all things considered, I think this experience was a win. I might have lost a little Yen and a few hours but nothing too bad-"

"And a pair of underwear you burnt to a crisp afterward."

Naruto looked back at Konoka blankly, "Yes. Thanks for that." He turned back to Sayo and smiled, "But I'm glad things worked out for you, Sayo-chan."

"What about you, Nii-San?" Negi inquired, "Do you think you handled your fear of ghosts a little better now?"

Naruto looked at Sayo floating in front of him, her body partially translucent as she seemed nervous under his gaze. The last time he'd looked at her before offering his body he was still subtly terrified of the fact she was a ghost. But now after spending the better part of a day being possessed he wasn't as unsettled by it as before.

"I think so." Naruto nodded, "It might be just because it's Sayo-chan but I'm not scared or anything."

"Really?"

"Alright, Naruto-kun!"

"Congratulations Sensei!"

"That's great!" Sayo smiled, "If you're not scared-"

"I mean I don't think I wanna hang around them too much but if I'm prepared it won't be so bad." Naruto clarified with a smile before looking at the ghost girl, "Sorry Sayo-chan, you were saying?"

Sayo froze mid-sentence and looked at all the faint, almost invisible spirits that lingered in the halls and floated around Naruto in particular.

She gulped and closed her eyes, "N-Nothing important."

[[[[[[[[Omake: M.A.D.]]]]]]]]

"Mwahahahahahaha!"

"Oh no," Satomi whimpered as she heard Chao cackle menacingly, "That's your mad scientist laugh. You only pull that out when you're concocting evil plans." The engineer fixed her glasses, "Did you come up with another prank?"

"I did indeed, dear Hakase!" The Chinese-themed girl proclaimed, "A brilliant and conniving little plan!"

"You recognize that it's conniving?"

"You see I've just put in an order to the pizza joint to drop off 20 large pizzas with every topping they have at his room!"

"T-The one he shares with Negi-sensei, Kagurazaka-San, and Konoe-San?"

"Mere casualties in the art of war!" Chao announced proudly, "The most brilliant part of this plan is that with an extra ingredient-"

The doorbell to the lab chimed and Chao stopped mid-speech, "Someone's at the door."

"We have a bell?"

Chao walked over and opened the door to find two delivery men carrying a stack of pizzas in each arm, "We have a delivery for one Lingshen-San?"

Chao stared at the pizzas with a pale expression as Satomi sighed, "Looks like he had the same idea." She stepped up to her side, "Do we have to pay for these?"

"No need ma'am. They were already paid on with the same account the other delivery was made on."

"Say what?"

Meanwhile-

"Mwahahahahaha!" Naruto cackled victoriously among a stack of pizza and sat on their center table, "Chao thought she got the best of me, but I figured she would pull off something like this! So I learned her credit card information so that we could charge all these orders to her account!"

Asuna groaned, "That is twisted."

Negi sighed as he looked up at the leaning tower of pizza, "I wish you and Chao-San would just bury the hatchet."

"Never! Not until she surrenders!"

Setsuna sweated, "But didn't you both already agree to a peace treaty?"

"Like a peace treaty has ever truly stopped the ambitions of willful folks!" Naruto declared firmly, "The World War didn't get a sequel by accident!"

"Still, this is a lot of pizza." Konoka noted with a tilt of her head, "And I already had the week's menu ready."

"Ah don't worry! I can probably eat all of this myself!" Naruto stood up and opened the top box before snagging a piece. He chomped down on half of it in one bite and smirked, "Oh man, that is good - HHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!"

He screeched and ran into the bathroom to dunk his head in the water. Asuna took the half-eaten piece before sniffing and recoiling, "Yeah she spiked this with spices."

"This rivalry is going to kill us."

"He spits fire though. How hot could it be?"

"Ojou-sama no!"

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

Done

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