Velleitie

6: Ordeal

"Alright, settle down everyone... " the homeroom teacher entered the classroom to start the morning classes. He began the regular roll call.

From amongst the crowd of students was a dazed silverette. Her eyes looked out of the window to her left, seeing the bright blue sky bask in the sunlight. It was like those picture perfect views she and (Y/n) would always see in polaroids.

She would've loved to see this...

Nene reminisced, letting out a gentle smile. She looked down to the empty seat beside her, where the peculiar (h/c)-haired girl should be. She doubted things would be the same. Not after the incident last week.

"(L/n), (Y/n)?" The homeroom teacher called out, receiving no reply. He repeated. "Miss (L/n). Is she here?"

"She called in sick today, sir!" A petite girl chimned from a few seats behind Nene. Aoi gave the dull radish girl a worried smile.

"Again?" Mr. Homeroom sighed, flipping the paper in the clipboard over to the past records. The frown on his face stretched. "She's been absent for almost a week now."

The homeroom continued as usual. Now that Nene really thought about it, (Y/n) behaved rather differently. She never ate with her; always dodged topics about her family; never had any social media or phone; always the last one in school. She never once revealed anything about herself, as much as she was chatty and outgoing. (Y/n) was an enigma in an enigma, and she never even existed.

That yonderly girl, a walking mystery, was nothing but a facade. A mask to perfectly blend in with the crowd. Behind it was another completely different mystery, a ghost named Isui.

If the whole situation with her supposed spirit of a friend wasn't enough, Nene wound up deeper into the clutches of the supernatural world by binding with the ghost named Hanako.

Sigh... Under the pressure that weighed down on her, Nene decided to sleep for the rest of the homeroom. The events that happened, last week, played in her mind like a broken record.

●=======●■{♧}■●=======●

The girl woke up enveloped in ice cold water. The feeling of nausea she felt earlier slowly subsiding into the pit of her stomach. She felt normal at first, yet something seemed off.

Click! Like a cog just turned in her mind, a pang of realization hit her, followed by a wave of panic. "Ah! Where am I!"

"Yashiro-san! Took you long enough!" The cheerful voice of a boy echoed from above, causing said girl to look up.

"Eeeeh???? Ha-hanako-san! Why are you so big?" Nene felt her heart seemingly escaping her once she was face to face with nothing but Hanako's giant head.

"Don't you like your new transformation? It's cute!" Hanako chirped. Nene's surroundings shook as she saw the ghost's large hands grasp the glass walls from the sides. With only a few steps, they arrived in front of a mirror where Nene was able to finally see herself wholly. Well, it wasn't what she expected. She became a fish.

"Viola!"

The color drained from her pearlescent scales, making them more white than even possible.

"Is she awake?" A distant voice came from behind. Hanako turned and gave a wide smile. Nene was well familiar with that sweet voice, but she didn't really feel expectant of it.

"Isui-chan! Isui-chan! Come here, she's finally awake!" The spectre called out.

So her real name is Isui... Nene made a mental note of that as she clumsily circled her fish tank, still not used to the new found fins.