In Loving Memory

Boba Tea and Haunting Stuff

"You've been protecting them." A voice from behind Izuku interrupted his thoughts. Izuku whirled around, finding Nana standing behind him.

"Oh um, I'm sorry," he apologized. "Is um, that not allowed?"

"There's no ghost rules, but it's at least not looked down upon." Nana looked around. "But I would like to warn you to not interfere too much. This is their school, after all, and you might keep them from learning."

"Okay," Izuku said slowly. "I think I understand."

"And something every ghost should know is that there is a fine line between helping and haunting."

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked, following her as Nana started to follow the now-leaving class.

"Some ghosts that develop the ability to interact with the world of the living end up scaring the people they try to help, or end up being seen when they appear. The presence of a ghost also sometimes causes a chill of some sort."

"But why do they get so scared?"

"People are scared by the unknown and the unexpected. The living don't understand the dead, and when they see us or see something that shouldn't happen, they get scared. Some people respect us or try to understand us. Some people just aren't scared of death or the dead."

"Why don't we just help them understand?"

Nana shrugged. "It's too uncommon to have the ability to. Some ghosts can appear in the world of the living unintentionally or only for a short time, but it's not common enough to be considered fact. It takes focus and a strong connection to the world of the living. We're just fables. Ghost stories, if you will. Besides, people don't know if a ghost will hurt them or not."

"But I don't want to hurt them!"

"So many ghosts like you share the sentiment," Nana sighed. "The living don't understand that ghosts are pretty harmless." She bit her lip and paused. "Most of the time."

"What do you mean most of the time?!"

"Some ghosts are actively malicious and try to harm people. Some are evil spirits. Some are poltergeists who just want to mess with the world of the living and watch chaos unfold. But for the most part, ghosts aren't going to hurt someone living."

"What if I met those bad ghosts?"

"Be careful around them, but try to be polite. They can be dangerous." Nana's expression brightened, as though she were abandoning the serious conversation. "Anyway, how's your day been? Do anything interesting?" Her lips were pulled into a soft smile.

"I stopped a girl from juicing a kid."

"What?" Nana's smile fell.

"A girl. She was going to stick a straw into somebody and drink his blood like a capri sun."

"Why was she gonna do that?"

"Her quirk. It makes her obsess over blood so she can use it. It allows her to turn into somebody if she drinks their blood. Her parents made her suppress it."

"What did you do?"

"I promised her that I could get her some help," Izuku sighed. "Not sure how, though, now that I think about it. I'm dead, and even if I appeared in the world of the living it's not like her parents will listen to some scrawny middle school kid asking them to apply for help from a quirk assistance institution."

"I'm not sure either," Nana said. "But, all things considered, this has been an eventful day. What say we chat over some bubble tea?"

"There's a bubble tea shop in the spirit world?"