Illusion

"Mmnnnnn!!!" Mizuki grunts. She's focusing hard on keeping her shape together. Having practiced everyday after school in this hangout spot under Daisuke's supervision, she manages to keep her SP form together without leaking out.

"Okay! That's enough!" Daisuke informs Mizuki.

"Pwaaahhh!! Ahaha finally I did it~!!!" Mizuki celebrates her completing the training.

"You did a good job finishing your Reitai, although it's a bit too basic... But you still haven't figured out how to transform on your own."

"Mou don't be a buzz kill.. you can just help me through the transform process every time and I can take it from there" she says with her hands clenched in high spirit.

"No can't do, you need to be able to get there on your own, next we train your transformation! Alright, here we go!"

W-wait Wait-! haaaah I'm poofed..." Mizuki falls to her knees like she had just finished a long day's chore.

"You now... this is just the-"

Before Daisuke could start nagging her, they both overhear a commotion not too far from where they are training. Peeking from the distance, they both see a boy and a girl meeting beside the open field in front of the building, a confession, one that's proclaimed a bit too loud that it caught the attention of others in the vicinity, even some other students in the middle of club activities.

Looking into the distance, Daisuke notices a beautiful girl, a classmate of theirs that has become quite the subject of admiration. Even now as she's gracefully rejecting yet another confession, she still inspires awe from the other female students due to her elegance.

"How lucky, I wonder if I can make my high school debut like Takayama san too..." Mizuki comments, seeing the same sight.

"Hou? She wasn't popular before?" Daisuke's interest piqued.

"Eh? You heard that too?!" Mizuki flustered but then clears her throat, regaining her cool "Ehem! I don't remember much but, she wasn't really popular last year, not to the point that people would mention her with the school idol, Yamanaka san, anyway. Takayama Kirei san last year has always been just... there." Changing the topic, Mizuki redirects the focus of the conversation

"A-anyway, forget what you just heard. Let's continue my training! Training!"

Daisuke has a devious smile briefly before announcing

"Well forming the Reitai is achievement enough for today, and since you're already in that form, let's see you maintain it, follow me" he instructs.

"Eh- heehh?? Looking like this?!" She's understandably hesitant.

"Relax, you're invisible to everyone else"

"Even so-! Ughh this feels very inappropriate..."

She sheepishly follows him out of school, feeling very exposed and naked despite not having any human feature other than her vague humanoid shape and a pair of eyes.

As they walk far enough and stands on a high ground in the hill behind school, Daisuke points out to the street in the residential area.

"Over there, what do you see?"

"Hmm that's just the route I usually take back home..."

Clueless to his real motive she just entertains his following questions after that with whatever she could describe of them. Sometimes he would point to an empty street, sometimes a middle aged woman, sometimes to a particular tree. Until he finally points at something that piqued her interest.

"Ah! Takayama san! So she take this way home. Does she take the train to school- wait we came all this way just to stalk her?!"

"Haha no no of course not, just observe her"

"Mou what are you doing? Stalking another girl in front of a girl!"

She is a bit irritated but complies anyway.

"She's just walking normally I guess.. what am I supposed to observe here?"

"Impressive, and do you notice anything else about her" Daisuke instigates.

Mizuki responds with a puzzled face before turning back towards her "I don't really see... She looks just as pretty as usual I guess..." slightly irritated.

"You sure? She looks very tired to me, almost like she's reluctantly dragging her limb across the ground. I wonder how you see her?" Daisuke comments.

"Huh? I don't see what you mean, she looks-" before Mizuki could correct him, this time she sees the same thing he describe. But not just that, the girl in question, it's almost like there are two of her, in the same spot. A lethargic Takayama san and an eeriely beautiful woman. Both of them almost transparent, both of them occupying the same space, both of them for some reason grinning.

Before she could react Daisuke pulls her back. Takayama san, or rather, the thing occupying her turns toward Daisuke and Mizuki's spot. As if it senses them. But it didn't seem concerned about the situation.

"This would be harder for us to resolve if she's on high alert" Daisuke tells Mizuki while they're both hugging the ground away from the cliff. Although Mizuki's only concern at this moment is

'you're too close!!!'

Pulling herself back from him, she focuses on the real problem

"so what do we do now? Do we have to fight it like yesterday's ghost?"

"No. In this case, the possession has been perfected for a while. If we try to separate them carelessly it might harm her too. Plus..."

He direct his gaze back at the girl.

"I'm getting a bad feeling, that she herself plays a part in this..."

"What do you mean?" Mizuki curious. She'd both seen and experience firsthand what an incomplete possession looks like, but never the completed one. It's hard to imagine why anyone would willingly subject themselves to such torture.

You've seen her earlier right? That's the ghost applying a layer of illusion."

"An illusion?"

"It's child's play for them. The girl's sudden glow up are thanks to that, it let's others see the version of her as you saw earlier."

" Is that like the transformation we're doing?"

"Well it's a different concept, but it can achieve a similar result. It's child's play for them, the girl's sudden glow up are thanks to that. It let's others see the version of her, as you saw earlier. a mask of reality layered on top of the actual object"

"But why would she go through that just for-?!" Mizuki a bit mad, not at Daisuke, but at the girl for resorting to something that painful just for beauty.

"Let me turn the question back at you, why would a girl desperately wants to look pretty? Or rather, when would a girl go to great length to look cute?"

"That's- when..." She gasps, realizing "when she's trying to get a boy's attention.. I'd guess... she's in love!"

"Bingo! That right there is our key to lower their guard down. We'll have an easier time undoing the possession after that."

"But how? Do you know who she likes?"

"Nope! But that's where you come in!" Daisuke points to her confidently.

"Huh?!" Even Mizuki is surprised.

"Well it's easier for girls to talk about this with other girls. You can't expect her to tell a random guy she doesn't know about her love interest right?"

"But it's not like I knew her that well either! I've talked to her like... Once last year... Because of homework.."

"Nice! That's a good start. Now now don't think too hard about it, just greet her, compliments how she looks, and asks Kirei chan if there's someone she likes. Easy in, easy out"

"Ughh you make it sound so easy... And what's with the 'chan'?"

The next day at school, during recess, Mizuki musters up the courage and approached the girl of their target. She'd been nervous about this throughout the day, finding the right opportunity to grab Takayama's attention but keeps missing the chances. But now that the girl is right in front of her, she's getting cold feet. She practically never talks to her outside of occasional morning greetings or when she bumps into her in the toilet. But before Mizuki could back out of the mission, Kirei turns back and sees Mizuki so close to her, watching her

"Umm... Kitahara san..?"

Before Mizuki realize it, she's already so close to her. There's no way she can make up any excuse to back out now

"Uehh? Aah- Afternoon! Takayama san! Lovely weather we're having today eh?"

She says, flustering. Fumbling her words.

The girl just smiles in response to her awkward greetings

"Ah yea.. Good Afternoon. Umm, yea I think we're having a good one"

An awkward silent follows after. Mizuki's eyes scour around the girl's table like she's looking for a topic to talk about while Kirei just fidgets with her pen on her laps. Suddenly Mizuki bursts out

"Umm you look very pretty Kirei chan!"

"Eeh?" Kirei responds.

'Kirei chan...?' Kirei thought.

Surprised at Mizuki's straightforwardness and also not sure of where this is going. She'd only been hearing the same sentence from guys these past weeks. So naturally she's not sure how to respond when it came from a girl she barely talk to and so out of the blue too.

"Thank you... Kitahara san.. you're also-"

"Ne, do you have someone you like?" Mizuki commits to her mission, and awkward conversation opening. Following Daisuke's example almost letter by letter.

"Haaaah?!! W-wait a minute, Mizuki san! I- w-what are you trying to say here..?" She blushes. Thinking that Mizuki's trying to confess to her.

Even Mizuki starts to notice what this sounds like

"Umm no no no! That's not what I meant! I mean like... uhh, I was wondering if you uhh change your looks because of someone you like.."

"Change... my looks?"

"Umm don't get me wrong! Your new style looks good on you! I was just curious, if.. it was for a guy you're seeing..."

"Ahh my hairstyle! You noticed?" Kirei laughs it off. Humored by how misleading Mizuki make it out to be. And maybe a slight suspicion that she knew her secret.

"Well... there is someone..."

She turns to the other side, looking out the class, as if remembering a scenery that plays out there some time ago.

"I don't know if you've met him, Mizuki san. He rarely come to school anymore. But he is still popular with the girls in our school."

Mizuki's attention cling to her words, rummaging through her brain for the person fitting that description. Vaguely she can recall someone like that. There are only so many suspects to fit the bill.

... However, miraculously, I ran into him the other day... Almost like, it was meant to be..." Kirei continues.

"Wait... you mean-" Mizuki has a suspicion.

"Yes, it's Hizashi kun" Kirei answers.