I hated that thing. I mean, there wasn’t a monster here I didn’t hate, but still. It was a lanky humanoid monster with a completely black body, and to be honest, it was creepy as hell and super scary. Slenders acted and thought differently from other monsters: they froze where they stood once they were in someone’s field of vision, but once the gazes turned away, they moved closer without making a sound. In other words, they basically forced you into a game of red light, green light. What a nuisance. You were supposed to play games like that with friends or your pet cat, not with monsters. I hated how they appeared in front of you out of nowhere, and I hated that dreadful feeling I got as soon as I turned away. Horror should only be experienced in video games, if you ask me. I had no idea why dungeon monsters loved playing red light, green light so much. Well, they chased humans around, so maybe it was more like a constant game of tag.
Anyway, I immediately gave that Slender a blast of my lightning magic. It died, of course. It probably would’ve been fine if it’d been made of rubber or something, but such characters only existed in manga. I was actually kind of glad I was only dealing with monsters here. Magic probably wouldn’t work on a real ghost, so that was the only saving grace for me. It was the one part I was thankful for in all of this.
I hung around behind Sensei for a while, then the thing I’d been looking for finally arrived.
“Oh, a wraith! All right!”
I readied my Polaroid camera. At that moment, it felt like a firearm in my hand. I looked at the wraith through the viewfinder, adjusted the focus, then snapped a picture. I moved the camera away from my face, and the wraith was gone.
“Woo-hoooooo! Yes! I did it! My ghost camera works!” I cheered.
The camera automatically developed the photo, and sure enough, the wraith was in the picture.
“So you converted the wraith into light, then sealed it by burning it onto that thing. Crafty usage of your mana,” said Sensei.
“I didn’t think it’d work so well,” I admitted.
As Sensei had pointed out, I’d obscured the wraith’s existence with the flash, then opened the shutter and burned the creature onto the film along with the rest of the image. I hadn’t been sure if it’d work, but the results were exactly what I’d expected.
“This,” I said and showed Sensei the photo as I pretended to be a TV narrator, “is a photograph taken at a certain ghost town overseas. There’s a sense of indescribable melancholy to the abandoned cluster of ruins there. Do you get the picture?”
Sensei said nothing.
“You can see a giant face at the top of the photo,” I went on. “Perhaps it could be a vengeful spirit wandering the ghost town?”
“Akira, save your messing around for when we get out of here,” said Sensei in an exasperated tone.
“Don’t say that! Some people do this for a living!” I said.
“Then they need to get a life,” said Sensei.
But I couldn’t help watching those paranormal programs on TV. I wished there were more of those programs, though you could find that type of content on YourTube year-round these days. There were some pretty scary non-Japanese videos out there too. I hoped these videos would scare the kids of the world so they couldn’t go to the bathroom at night, just like the good old days.
“This is crazy!” I said. “It probably only works on wraiths, but they don’t stand a chance as long as I have some film!”
“What do you plan to do with that ‘photograph’?” asked Sensei.
“Kill it with fire, of course! It’s too fake to post it online anyway.”
“You’re gonna incinerate it?”
“Yes! Death to everything that threatens to ruin my mental stability! Death! Death! Death!” I chanted.
“They bother you that much, huh? I almost feel sorry for you. You’re more frantic than a rabbit.”
“I’ll have you know, rabbits in my world are much more delicate,” I said. “Why are the ones here the way they are anyway?! These rabbits here are like sloths or capybaras wearing rabbit costumes!”
“Beats me. Oh, look, there’s another one.”
“I’ll lock you up in the fridge and freeze youuu!!!!” I screamed madly, snapping one picture after another.
Moments later, I stood there breathing heavily, victorious in my battle—if you could call it that.
“I’m surprised you’re so out of breath when you haven’t moved a step,” said Sensei.
“Sensei...can we go home now?” I asked.
“What? We just got here.”
“I know, but still...”
“Besides, they don’t stand a chance against you, right? So why go home? Get revenge on them to your heart’s content.”
“Well, the thing is that dark and creepy places like this wear on my psyche just by me being here,” I said.
“You only feel that way because of your mindset. Besides, there are some of those cute animals you like too. You know, like those Faceless Sheep. Wanna go visit them?”
“What? They aren’t cute! What the heck are those abominations, anyway?! They’re like a mix between a stuffed sheep doll and a Sarubobo from a souvenir shop in Hida! They don’t even have faces!”
When I’d first encountered one, I’d sought comfort from it, thinking it’d been an adorable animal. Yet, it’d turned out to have no face when it’d turned around. It went without saying that I’d screamed at the top of my lungs.
“How are those things alive, anyway?!” I asked.
“They have mouths, which should be enough,” shrugged Sensei.
“They should have eyes and a nose too! Why would they lose those?!” I complained, then sighed. “Sensei, can you please come here by yourself from now on? I’m really on the edge of my mental limit here.”
“I don’t wanna,” she said after a short pause.
“Why not?”
“Because...you don’t wanna come here alone either, do you?”
I was surprised to see her depending on me. Putting it that way, I had to admit it didn’t feel too bad.
“Heh heh, I guess you’re really counting on me, huh?” I said.
“Yeah, you’re right about that,” she agreed.
“Th-Then maybe I’ll keep trying for a little longer.”
Yeah, I’d gotten carried away because I’d been so happy. She wasn’t the type to rely on me like that, so I couldn’t help it—though it didn’t last, of course.