The Invisible

'It's a kiss scene. No doubt about it. A kiss scene for sure.'

Seriel stomped her feet anxiously, making a fuss.

"Oh my, are they really doing it? For real? What should I do?!"

The audience, purely driven by curiosity, focused intently. Would they actually kiss?

"Ollia."

"Noa."

Their lips inched closer, the tension escalating to an unbearable peak.

"Kraaah!"

Suddenly, from behind, Iruki lunged out and sank his teeth into Naid's neck, bringing him down.

"Kyaaah!"

As the sound system blared with piercing screams, the students flinched in their seats.

'What the—!'

No one had seen it coming. A scene like this was impossible to stage with mere props.

Shirone had written the script with this exact moment in mind, leveraging the invisibility cloak to command the audience's attention.

Slowly, the spectators were becoming completely immersed in the play.

"Agh! Agh!"

As Iruki feigned devouring Naid's flesh, the sound system played an eerie mix of bones crunching, flesh tearing, and agonized wails.

"No! Noa! Noa!"

As the ghoul that had devoured him vanished, Ollia cradled Noa's lifeless body in her arms, letting out a heart-wrenching scream.

The play had taken a tragic turn.

Half-mad with grief, Ollia cursed everything before plunging a dagger into her own throat.

Seeing the lovers die hand in hand, the students fell silent, a solemn air settling over them.

The lights dimmed.

Then, a woman's voice shrieked through the darkness.

"Kekekeke! I won't forgive you! I'll kill you all! I'll turn every one of you into ghouls!"

Her eerie voice echoed in the void, sending chills down the students' spines.

As the darkness lifted and the spotlight returned, Naid, now back in his role as the narrator, spoke.

"We did not merely hear this story. No, we unearthed it six months ago. While researching the history of the Magic Academy, we stumbled upon an ancient diary."

Naid produced an old notebook.

A diary buried in the soil, aged and crumbling—allegedly 520 years old.

Of course, it had been hastily fabricated just days before.

"As members of the Paranormal Science Society, we immediately launched an investigation. And what we discovered was shocking. The vengeful spirits from that time still roam this academy."

Ding. Ding. Ding.

The sound system chimed, signaling midnight—a sound familiar to all students.

"Every night at the stroke of twelve, starving ghouls wander through the darkness. We realized that this was irrefutable proof of the existence of spirits."

Students furrowed their brows.

They had been at this academy for years, yet never had they seen a ghost—let alone anything remotely suspicious.

"Of course, we understand. You've never seen ghosts before. However, according to the study of supernatural spiritual science, spirits only reveal themselves to those attuned to them. It's a matter of matching frequencies. That is precisely why we held this presentation—to attune you. Now that you know the story of these vengeful souls, your frequencies have aligned. From now on, every time the midnight bell tolls, you too will witness the wandering spirits."

Naid winked as he delivered his final words.

"Of course, only if you're lucky. This concludes the Paranormal Science Society's presentation."

As Naid exited, a heavy silence followed. No applause, only an awkward atmosphere lingering in the air.

"What was that? What did we just watch?"

The students trembled with betrayal and disappointment.

They had been promised a demonstration proving the existence of spirits, only to be met with a mere ghost-themed performance.

"So, it was just a joke? I thought they were going to show us something real."

"We were fools to expect anything. Honestly, how would they even prove ghosts exist? We totally fell for it."

Even in Class Four, students grumbled.

"This is the level of Class Five, after all. They talked big about Shirone and Iruki, but in the end, there was nothing of substance. Let's go. We wasted enough time."

Voices of discontent spread in every direction.

For students who sacrificed even their leisure time to study, wasting precious hours on a sham presentation was infuriating.

As the audience dispersed, Mark and Maria made their way against the crowd.

They were looking for Amy and Seriel.

"Good evening, seniors!"

"Oh, it's been a while."

"How did you find the presentation?"

Mark, too, seemed baffled.

He knew of Shirone's brilliance, which made this failure even harder to accept.

But Amy had no words of defense.

There was nothing to justify, no excuse to make. What they saw was all there was, and the presentation was over.

Seriel tried to defend Shirone.

"Maybe something went wrong. Maybe they ran into a problem. Right, Amy?"

"Whatever the case, it was still a failure. Honestly, I should've known when I heard he was hanging out with those oddballs. Let's go."

As Amy left coldly, Seriel grumbled.

"How can she be so indifferent to her own boyfriend?"

"Haha! That's part of Senior Amy's charm. She might actually be the most upset of us all."

Seriel, considering Mark's words, followed after Amy.

Even after the students had all left, the teachers remained, unable to move.

In truth, they had no idea what to write in their evaluations.

Siina, in particular, was in shock.

'What on earth were they thinking…?'

Of all the places, they had staged such a childish performance in the presence of the headmaster.

The very thought of how to smooth things over made her head throb.

She eventually gave up on writing her evaluation and turned to the headmaster, Alpheas.

"I apologize, Headmaster."

"Hahaha, it was a difficult subject to tackle. Paranormal science is like that by nature. Don't trouble yourself over it."

"I will make sure to reprimand them properly."

Alpheas simply waved his hand dismissively and made his way to the exit. But just before stepping out, he turned back to gaze at the empty stage.

A smile formed beneath his beard.

'If this was all there was to it, Shirone wouldn't have even started. Right, Shirone?'

—

Regardless of the audience's reaction, Shirone and his team rushed back to their research room.

"Alright! Phase One was a success! Now the real challenge begins."

"It worked, right?"

"Yeah. I could tell just by looking in their eyes."

While the students felt disappointed, Shirone's group never cared about the immediate outcome.

This presentation had only been a setup—a way to implant a crucial keyword in their minds. Their true objective was to plant a seed of doubt in their audience's hearts.

Now, with only six hours remaining until midnight, the final stage of their plan was about to begin.