Now You See Me (self-insert #7)

Chapter 7

"I'm pretty sure you didn't mention that they replaced us."

"I'm sure I did. How else would they make them forget?"

"Uh, hypnosis? Telepathy?"

I raised an eyebrow at Ayako. "That's not a bad idea, and maybe I did forget to mention it." I admitted.

"I told you so."

"Now's not the time for that. Right now, I need you to promise me that you won't do anything reckless."

Ayako blinked. "This sounds like a goodbye."

"Yasuhara will vanish soon, so you're not too far off the mark. I'll see you before the night ends, though. Promise."

"You're leaving already?"

I froze. Of course. I wasn't the only one in the world who hated being lonely. "I'm always around, Ayako. I'll be in this school the entire time, and without even knowing it we might cross paths." I replied.

She didn't look convinced. "If this case takes longer than a day to solve, you seriously owe me."

"Whatever."

I strode out into the corridor. The rain was still going hard, and making the smell of damp stronger. "Eurgh." I muttered, hurrying up the stairs. "Honestly, if I was a ghost, I'd haunt people into making my domain nicer. Or do ghosts have a sense of smell? They can see, sometimes hear, but not smell? It doesn't make sense. This is why I don't believe in ghosts. Now, where are they supposed to be?"

The answer appeared in my head. Taniyama-san, the cars! Why do we have two cars!?

"Oh!"

I dashed inside a classroom with windows facing where the cars had been parked. In that instant, the room burst into flames.

I choked on my scream and smoke, staggering backwards and tripping on the hem of my abaya. Too stunned to catch myself, I fell on my bum as fire crackled around me, burning and destroying...

I froze.

There was a fire...but I wasn't burning alive?

???

I wasn't complaining at all, but you don't just stand in the middle of a burning room and expect to feel a slight tickling. Maybe I was going mad.

The fire died down, and when it did I found myself staring at a familiar bespectacled boy. He jumped as I seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "Narumi-san?" He wheezed. "What...I thought..."

I gave him a moment to pull himself together.

Yasuhara blinked. "Didn't you vanish? Where's Lin-san? Is Matsuzaki-san here?"

Cue another long explanation.

"I see." He said eventually. "Lin-san and Matsuzaki-san are uninjured, which is good. I can't do anything...can you?"

"I can...keep people up to date?"

"As in, can you do anything in regards to the situation."

I stared at him. "Are you trying to get Lin to kill me? Like, first exorcising Naru, now this?"

He laughed, his voice still shaky. "What would I gain from that?"

"Ha. You sound like Naru." I remarked. "Thing is, purifying spirits—if you believed in spirits—required direct contact with the spirit. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that, and mostly I'm way too aggressive. That, or I'd just start crying."