The ghost hunter from another world.

When you feel annoyed and pissed, every day would feel never-ending and if the day was happy, it would end soon. And out of all the pissed days, I could feel that day was one of the most annoying days. I could feel it from the starting of the day. That day, during my class break, I felt too tired to go out. I sat and saw a slowly falling leaf and thought to myself, “Why is life so harsh to me?… When will I live my life to the fullest, even if it is for one day, I’m fine with it…… Just let me be free.”

I don’t know how; I guess I just forced myself to complete my class. I brightened up a little by the thoughts of returning to the house, finally my much-needed sleep. On my way back to my house, one bridge would come in the middle of the connection path. I could spend hours standing on that bridge and staring at the calm and satisfying view of the river. I don’t how, but I had the talent to find beauty in all the tiniest things, which probably others didn’t bother to see or care about.

That day also I was standing at that bridge taking a view of the river, thoughtlessly without thinking about worldly matters. Suddenly, a Zendala appeared straight in front of me. That whole magnificent-looking thing took me aback; I turned around to analyze the reaction of others, but to realize everything was frozen except me, and then against my desire, my hand rose high in the air and touched the Zendala. The bright light that emitted from that magnificent-looking thing made me blinded for a moment.

Then the next memory I had was that I woke up in another dimension.

The first thing I saw was that I was in a beautiful boat and the lake was like a gorgeous navy blue midnight sky, full of shiny stars. But the sky was reddish, and a person was sitting on a crescent moon-shaped window with both his legs dangling down. He was wearing a red hairband with a white lotus on it; he was holding a sake bottle (Japanese wine bottle). I raised my head to check the surrounding, and then I realized I was wearing a Kimono. And my hair was purple instead of blonde. I saw my mirror image in the water and freaked out. It seemed my face skipped ten years and went straight from a young girl to an ambitious lady. Along with my face, my body also looked mature.

The boy rushed to me, and said: “Lucida Grayson, you are finally awake!”. He said in traditional Japanese, and to my astonishment, I could perfectly understand him and even found his accent familiar. It was my first time seeing him, but it felt like I saw him my whole life.

I was in a complete dilemma; I was in a boat in some mystical looking lake and in front of a stranger, who was drinking. Everything was exceptionally weird for me. But that man was extremely calm. He blew a whistle, but no sound came out. Then out of nowhere, another boy came, he was also wearing a red hairband, and but his eyes were sealed with a piece of yellow cloth. And his hair color was orange, unlike the guy with sake bottle, whose hair color was sky-blue. Their clothes were like Japanese warriors.

That sky-blue-haired guy introduced his name as Itsuki and the orange-haired as Izumi.

Izumi told me, “Lucida, don’t worry, we are no harm to you. We have brought you here because we need your help. We are a special association called ghost-hunters, formed by your father, the former king of this nation. He formed us with a dream of a perfect nation, where nobody would live in fear. But couldn’t make it. Now, this nation is ruled by your step-brother, Prince Daiki Mushinka.”

Still, I couldn’t understand what he was talking about.

Itsuki started “There is a soul feeder, because of his excessive meditation, he received a blessing from the seven gods, that he will be immortal. But as long as he feeds on the human’s bodies. But the problem is that the human, he would feed on, will have its soul half dead and half alive. These souls become ghosts who can roam freely on streets, bit other people, and make them ghosts like themselves. These ghosts are visible to the eyes but hungry for other’s souls. They walk free and fearlessly when the sun completely goes down. They have consciousness and a limit of several souls per day, but all their goodness will be gone. Ghosts can be so hungry that they can feed on their own family, but the moment they will be out of their limit is when they become ashes. ”

Then I asked him, “If you know, who it is, then kill him…. why did you bring me here?”

Izumi answered, “You are in the body of Princess Wakumi Mushinka. She left the royal palace, to work with us and kill the soul feeder. However her step-brother, King Daiki Mushinka, is very against this idea, so the moment he knows that Princess Wakumi has died, he will dissolve us, and it is practically telling the country to fall into an abyss. Having a blessing from seven gods is something that has scared king Daiki the most. Therefore, he knees to the soul feeder. It has scared Prince to this an extend that he is finding reasons to disperse us.”

Itsuki continued, “Because every soul here has a corresponding soul in another dimension. And you the corresponding soul of Princess Wakumi in another dimension. You must have marked by now how much your looks match with her.”

I asked them, “How to kill soul feeder?”

They explained to me that the soul feeder’s original name was Satsujin. He had his own group of people, that helped him to collect the people who would become his meal. The first step was to kill those useless pawns. And the next step was to catch his attention. And finally, was when enough information about him was available and we will be strong enough, we would kill him. Then, I could happily return to my world.

Back then, I was a little adventurous. Hence, I asked them when I should start the work. They looked at each other and said in chorus, “You are not ready.” And both of them clarified to me that hunting ghosts was like a game. When you kill a ghost, you become strong and meditation was essential to boost your power in every aspect. As Wakumi died from a fight with the supreme beast, Jorogumo (an ancient beast that looked like a spider), her body was low in power. Meditation was the only thing her body undertake in the first few months.

After doing a sufficient amount of meditation, Wakumi’s body was ready for weapons practice. (Wakumi learned war fan as her weapon, but I learned one extra weapon for safety, I learned chain scythe) but along with weapons training; I continued mediation. Finally, I killed my first ghost. After that, I killed ghost after ghost, and ultimately I killed thousands and thousands of Ghosts. When the time came, I knew I was ready. But the speed at which Jiro and his gang were killing people grew vigorously with each passing day.

In the end, the most awaited day, came the d-day. The beasts that were defeated from ghost hunters would become pets to that respective ghost hunter and I was fully confident that would make Jorogumo my pet, but it was Wakumi’s body that couldn’t gain the courage, maybe because Jorogumo’s sting heavily affected it. But I was pretty sure I would shine at that moment and, like I believed, I did. I defeated Jorogumo with courage. And proudly claimed my ownership over him. That day was also the day I met him.

Katsumi, he came like mist and went like mist from my life, unexpected and unknown.

From my first ghost hunt to Jorogumo's ownership, I marked someone following me and helping in times of need. That person would wear a Kitsune (fox-shaped mask) like we ghost hunters. I tried to follow him several times, but every time I lost him. Maybe Jorogumo’s spiritual power increased my spiritual power as well. And eventually, I caught that Kitsune person. As he helped me, I asked him if I could help him in any possible way but he smiled and said “Will you teach me how to hunt ghosts?…. I really want to know.”

Every time I would get out to hunt, I would blow my whistle to summon him and like this, we became close friends, but I told nothing to my fellow hunters as I thought Katsumi was a close friend, only nothing worthy to report.

One day, Katsumi got to know about Satsujin’s hideout from one of his friends. I thought I should check that hideout alone first, just in case Katsumi’s information was wrong.

But when I reached there, the smell of blood filled the whole hall, the sight there made me feel terribly disgusting. And I saw that instead of Satsujin, a Suzaku (Vermilion bird) was feeding on the bodies of innocent men. But there were two Suzaku, instead of one. Judging by the comfort and safety of the birds in their respective enchanting nests. Each of them represented the life of Satsujin and the other person. I was busy thinking about the identity of other people.

Then suddenly, there was a shoe-tapping noise, that scared the hell out of me. I hide inside a cupboard with little space open between its doors. The person whose shoe noise scared me was none other than Katsumi. His voice was enough for me to identify him from miles away even without seeing his face. At that second, my whole life fell at rocket speed. Never in my life, I expected something like this would have happened. That was the biggest betrayal I ever received in my whole life.

Katsumi said in his husky voice, “Satsujin, can you please stop?…. I don’t want to live a life, where many are killed just to keep me alive.”

Satsujin started, “Brother, we are special…. not like these pitiful mortal human beings, who can die at any point in time. Don't you think a few little sacrifices are needed?”

"But it is already 180 years, how many more years do you want to live like this ?"

“I won’t listen to anything like this, anymore,” Satsujin said and left the room. Katsumi slept after sighing a lot.

I left the room silently, but the next morning, I blow the whistle and called Katsumi to our usual meeting spot.

Katsumi came cheerfully; I slapped him as hard as I could. At that moment, he knew I visited the hideout. He explained to me that Satsujin was his elder twin, who was blessed by all the seven gods that a Suzaku represented his life, which feeds only on the soul of human beings. After he achieved his blessing, he started his meditation again, but this time for his endless life. Satsujin was ready to do anything for his younger brother but wasn’t ready to understand what truly his brother wanted.

Katsumi told me “You know when I got to know about ghost hunters; I knew that was my golden opportunity to put an end to this endless curse, but I didn’t have any idea about you guys’ shelter but the day you, and by you, I mean Lucida Grayson, came to this world. I could finally track down the location of the ghost hunter’s shelter and while following you. I realized you, are the only one I can trust. Neither I nor Satsujin can kill each other or ourselves. Please Lucida help me.”

When Katsumi was leaving, he slowly whispered “Just consider this information as a farewell gift… I hope this is the last time we meet… Hence, I’m telling you, I always trusted you as my only friend… Please do well and leave well after I leave.” I was furious, but I also considered Katsumi one of my people, so I kept my promise. And after he left, I told went back to our shelter and told everything to Itsuki and Izumi.

From that instant onwards, we planned everything single thing and mustered all the ghost hunters around the country. In a small span of time, we prepared everything and finally attacked Satsujin’s hideout. We killed every person from Satsujin’s gang. It was a massacre planned by us, and we were not ashamed of the mass murder.

Finally, the enchanting two Suzaku. That day, that minute, Satsujin, and Katsumi were not around and the mass murder didn’t leave a single person alive to report Satsujin about the situation. At last, we burnt the whole cage from outside; the birds, sensing danger, summoned their masters, who arrived too late.

Katsumi stared at me and gave me a pleasing smile as I kept my promise, but Satsujin rushed towards the cage. He fell into his own trap. The locks, which he placed on the birds’ cage to protect them were so tight that he himself could not open them on time. He fell on his knees, with tears in his eyes were flowing like a river. And finally, both of them became golden ashes and flew in the thin air.

That night, people throw a party and the king dissolved the ghost hunters, but the death of Katsumi brought tears to my eyes. After I really considered him as my people, someone I really cherished. But what do, if it is his wish, then is my duty to fulfill it.

After completing their duties, Itsuki and Izumi came to me and asked if they should erase my memories or I would love to keep them. I requested them to allow me to keep my memories; those memories are more precious than all the gold in the world. Meeting and making family in another world were worthy memories to adore lifelong. There was no way one would want to forget them.

Finally, they took me to the lake, where I woke up. I slept in the same position on that boat. The beauty of that river would make me speechless every time I saw it. There they made the same Zendala, which took me to that dimension. And this time, I willingly touched that Zendala.

The next moment, I was at that same bridge in the same clothes at the same time and same day. Not a single bit was changed. I went back home to have a perfect ending to the day.

And from that day onwards, I didn’t see anyone from another dimension. Neither Itsuki nor Izumi, nobody, like everything, was happening in my dream, except the fact, no dream could be this vivid.

But from that day, my perspective of life changed, and I started to believe, which is something others call foolish. And it was Magic. To this day, I will say, “Magic exists, my dear friends. So, never stop believing in it. Something magical might happen to you, we never know. ”