Chapter 34

Owen's first instinct was to duck. He saw tiny strands of hair falling, the claws of the ghost having nicked him. He launched a foot towards the ghost and sent it back. A screech shook the restaurant, bouncing between the walls and causing his ears to burn.

"Alllleeeex! Aleeeeex!" The female ghost shrieked louder and louder. "ALEEX! WHY DIDN'T YOU HOLD ME!" The floating half-body flew at him again and this time he was forced to jump and roll. He grabbed a fork from a nearby table and threw it at the ghost. The weapon struck the center of its chest, a red spot forming in the glowing white robes.

There was a second of pain. A second that Owen used to his advantage to tackle the damn thing into a table and pummel it with his fists. The cracked face jerked left and right upon each powerful fist. But he knew it was fruitless. The dead couldn't be killed again. At best, he was buying time. 

"Masafumi! Hey! Wake up!"

"ALEEEEX!" 

Shit, she was fighting back. He grabbed her wrists before her claws could slash his face, gritting his teeth. Her physical strength was probably quadruple that of a normal woman's. "Does being a ghost give you gym privileges!?" It was a kind of strength not possible in the real world. Her limbs were thin yet exerted power surpassing the best of humans.

"ALEEEXXXXX!" Stronger, stronger! Her sharp nails were getting closer and her arms were slowly starting to overpower him. His grip was tight enough to snap bone and dig into her pale flesh.

"Raaah!" That scream didn't come from Owen, it came from Masafumi who had forced himself up, charged forward, and shoved the pouch into the ghost's mouth. Her voice muffled, he placed both his hand onto the pouch and pushed. With the strength of two men, keeping her down should have been easier but it wasn't. The ghost was growing angrier and angrier, thrashing about. If it had legs, it might have been able to escape.

Masafumi began muttering in a language distinct from Japanese. For an unknown foreigner, they would assume it was one in the same but it wasn't. Masafumi was speaking the endangered language of Ryukyuan. Each passing second and word caused the pouch to glow white.

Wisps of smoke flew up. The ghost's form started to wither. It screamed. It begged. But Masafumi wouldn't let it loose. He kept muttering and muttering until a scream let loose from his throat. "Now disappear!"

"Allllsshsshh!"

Just like that, the world momentarily went white. Once vision returned, all that remained of the ghost was smoke. The pouch that was once full and stuffed inside the mouth was empty.

"Is it—?"

"Exorcism complete!" Masafumi declared, grinning. Several trails of sweat ran down his temple as if he had run a marathon and his crescent-moon earrings suddenly darkened. All the vigour inside and outside Masafumi seemed spent. "Good thing I bought salt from home. Might not have been able to exorcise it otherwise."

A pouch full of salt and a series of incantations. Masafumi was as ridiculous as they came.

"Phew." Owen was standing on his knees, sighing in relief. "Overall, that went well."

"I know right." Masafumi got up and began stretching left and right, hands on his hips.

"Are you okay?" Owen asked.

"I'm okay. 'Tis just a scratch." Three large gashes were just a scratch. Yeah. Sure.

"You need to go to the hospital," Owen said, hearing the droplets of heavy blood.

"Are you kidding me? I'm broke and I have no insurance. Just calling an ambulance is gonna put me severely in debt."

Shit. Owen was in the same predicament. "I'll have to get a med kit then."

"More importantly…" Masafumi said, brows furrowed. "How did that ghost gain such a physical form? It didn't go through walls or anything, it was anchored to this area." He looked around. "Did someone die here?"

"Didn't you notice the forgotten plates and forks," Owen added. There was even a can of Mountain Pew on the table next to Masafumi. "It feels like whoever closed up shop did so in a hurry."

"So someone did probably die here and that ghost was the result of it."

Owen's gaze was laser-focused on the spot where the ghost was exercised. The smoke had all but vanished. "I mean, if it happened at an amusement park, then there's bound to be an article on it on the internet."

"The internet? Psht. We don't need that."

Owen blinked twice as he got up. "...you don't have a phone, do you?"

"Whaaat? No idea what you're talking about."

"And I bet we came at night just because you couldn't afford the tickets." Owen's expression was genuinely full of concern. "Seriously, how broke are you?"

Masafumi chucked a can of soda from the table beside him. "Shut up and drink the damn Mountain Pew, Owen."