Now, only Gio and Kasna remained in the damp alley. Contrast between the chaos a few minutes ago and this sudden silence created an awkward vibe. Crickets started chirping in the trees.

  Gio was about to open his mouth, but Kasna did it first. "Thanks a lot, Gio," she spoke softly.

  But something was off. Kasna spoke while tightly clamping both hands over her mouth. Her voice was suppressed behind her medical mask and fingers.

  "You’re welcome, ummm..." Gio scratched his cheek, unsure how to respond. The hand placement wasn't the gesture of covering a cough or sneeze. It looked like she was holding back something trying to break out.

  "Are you okay?" Gio asked carefully.

  "I'm t-totally fine." The girl answered quickly, as if avoiding any long conversation. She hurriedly spun around, walking away while keeping her mouth fully sealed.

  But Gio hadn't finished his investigation yet. "Wait—"

  Kasna's footsteps halted. Her back stiffened.

  Gio took a breath. He knew this question was risky, but his curiosity and empathy were far more dominant. "Sorry if this offends you. But is it true what people say about you? About... your words?"

  Silence. Afternoon wind blew gently, rustling the Madagascar Almond leaves above.

  Kasna remained silent for five full seconds. Slowly, she turned back shyly. Dodging eye contact, she focused on the buttons of Gio's uniform. "That's..."

  Suddenly, her shoulders jerked. "Dumbass!"

  The word slipped out, completely bypassing the hands seal over her mouth. High volume and heavy emphasis—a total contrast to her soft tone seconds ago.

  "Eh?" Gio gaped. "Eh!" Kasna's eyes blew wide open. "S-Sorry! I didn't—"

  Both of them were shocked. Gio never expected such harsh word to be fired at him without any provocation. Meanwhile, Kasna went pale white. She didn't expect her "leak" occuring during a serious moment.

  "That wasn't me! I didn't say that!" Kasna panicked, trying to clarify. Now she stared into Gio's face, begging him not to be misunderstood. She pressed her hands against her mouth even harder, punishing her own treacherous lips.

  Gio felt something was wrong. He shut his eyes to activate his Visual Alter-sense.

  In Ophema, the demons that were just “hijacking” Kasna's brain had vanished completely without a trace. Even though Kasna still terrified, and Gio could feel the Antinoi radiating from her. "Did Erinn clear them earlier?" Gio wondered.

  But that wasn't the main issue. Gio's inner eyes detected a subtle anomaly around Kasna's neck.

  At a glance, it looked completely normal. But at this range, Gio caught an unnatural movement. The muscles around her larynx twitched, like something was "hitching a ride" inside.

  Gio slowly reached his hand toward Kasna's neck.

  "Gio...?" Kasna stepped back, staring at him in confusion. The guy didn't answer.

  Gio knew he hadn’t mastered Exorcism yet. He just hoped physical contact from his Ophema projection would trigger a reaction.

  Suddenly...

  Riiiing!!! The dismissal bell rang loudly.

  Gio and Kasna jolted. However, the most extreme reaction came from the "entity" implanted within Kasna's Ophema neck.

  Through his visual alter-sense, Gio watched the creature forcefully uprooted itself out of Kasna's throat. Its shape and size resembled an octopus—or rather, an Enneapus, given its nine tentacles.

  Six thick, muscular tentacles acted as anchors, previously wrapped tightly around Kasna's neck and chest like parasitic roots. The remaining three were slim surgical manipulators, directly embedded into the host's skull.

  It had a flat, mushroom-like head. The skin texture and color perfectly mimicked human dermis—a perfect camouflage—making it incredibly stealthy.

  There was no audio when the creature detached (Gio hadn’t yet mastered Auditory Alter-sense). But the visual effect was brutal. Kasna's neck flesh ripped open, leaving a gaping hole. Ectoplasmic blood sprayed everywhere, drenching her uniform. Gio's eyes widened in sheer horror.

  Of course, this was just an Ophema projection. In Proteum, the girl's neck remained smooth without a single scratch.

  In seconds, the creature dropped onto the pavement. Despite the octopus morphology, its movement wasn't squishy at all. Its legs slammed the ground with stiff, rapid coordination, moving exactly like a Huntsman Spider.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The thing bolted at high speed, scaling the vertical concrete wall easily, and leaped out of the school zone.

  Gio didn't detect any Antinoi residue. That wasn't a demon. That was a Jinn.

  "What the—" Gio sprinted after it without a second thought. He jumped, hooked his hands on the two-meter wall’s edge, and pulled himself upward.

  As the head cleared the wall, he scanned the road outside. But, nothing except a few passing vehicles. The Enneapus was gone, completely swallowed by the city traffic.

  "Damn it," Gio muttered. Down below, Kasna stared at Gio’s back in pure confusion. From her perspective, Gio just tracing the wind, scaled a wall, and got mad at nothing. Like a mime chasing an imaginary monkey.

  Gio dropped back to the pavement and turned to Kasna. Serious expression engaged, all previous awkwardness was gone. "Kasna, tell me what's actually happening."

  He stepped closer, keeping a safe distance so she wouldn't panic. "Do you feel like something is messing with you? Like a supernatural disturbance, or a strange sensation around your neck?"

  Kasna fell silent. Slowly, her trembling hands lowered from her mouth.

  "I’m sorry... But you won't believe me..." she whispered.

  "I believe you!" Gio stated firmly. The sheer certainty in his voice made Kasna blink in surprise.

  "Be honest," Gio softened his voice. "I will not tell anyone. I promise."

  A brief silence followed. Just a faint honk of a distant motorcycle.

  "I... don't know..." The girl finally confessed. "I don't know why my mouth keeps talking on its own, completely out of my control. Even when I shut it tightly, people can still hear my voice. Even when I'm not saying anything!"

  Her eyes teared up. "You must think I'm crazy, right? Maybe I am..."

  Gio was stunned. His eyebrows shot up. Apparently the sudden insult earlier was the Jinn's doing. It made perfect sense why Kasna was being hated and heavily gossiped about. Gio rejected the assumption that this was just a mental illness.

  "No. You're not crazy." Gio shook his head. "That's a Poltergeist curse."

  "Poltergeist?" Kasna repeated, completely unfamiliar with the word. Any spiritual entity—jinn or demon—capable of performing Ectopraxis is classified as Poltergeist.

  "There's a supernatural entity attached to you," Gio explained, translating Consciology language into layman's terms. "That weird phenomenon messing with your mind and mouth is the work of a Jinn."

  "I..." Kasna looked down, staring blankly as she tried to illustrate Gio's explanation using logic. "—Don't believe it."

  "It’s okay if you don't," Gio replied. "But don't worry, I know a guy who can help. Follow me." Gio turned around.

  "Where you going?" Kasna asked hesitantly.

  Gio stopped, glancing back over his shoulder. "My boarding house."

  The sentence slipped out without any social filter. Sounded suspicious; a guy inviting a girl he just met to his room. Gio didn't care; he’d already walking away fast.

  Kasna hesitated. But seeing Gio genuinely wanted to help—and the fact that he was the first person not to laugh at her condition—she had no other choice.

  With quick, short steps, Kasna jogged to catch up.

  Gio took the public bus as usual. Coincidentally, Kasna was also a user of the same transportation mode, even though her route was different.

  The entire afternoon ride passed in total silence. No conversation. Gio's head was still haunted by questions, but the current situation wasn't ideal for an interrogation.

  The bus was packed. After-school and office rush hour forced them to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the other passengers. Both kept their hands on the swaying handgrips as the cabin rattled along.

  At least Gio knew the Poltergeist Jinn had fled. No need to worry about Kasna's curse randomly triggering.

  Minutes later, they arrived at the boarding house’s second-floor hallway. But the destination wasn’t Gio’s room. They stopped at the door right next to it.

  KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Gio knocked the wooden door fast and hard. "Arua! I need your help!" he shouted, loud enough to ring Kasna's ears beside him.

  Three seconds of silence. Then...

  Click. The door swung open roughly. A man with a white birthmark over his left eye stepped out. He wore the same gray-brown wijayakusuma batik uniform as them, but him was a total mess. Buttons completely undone, exposing a skinny torso lack of masculinity. It was hard to distinguished between his middle-parted hair and a bird's nest. Tired face, half-shut eyes.

  Yet, contrasting his exhausted look, his voice hit an eardrum-shattering decibel.

  "CAN YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP...!!!" Arua erupted. The intonation carried 100% pure rage. "How dare you interrupt my afternoon nap!"

  Kasna flinched, surprised. Meanwhile, Gio just thought, "The dismissal bell just rang, and he's already napping in his room?"

  Arua's sensor caught a foreign object on Gio's left. He scanned Kasna head-to-toe, then looked back at Gio with a deadpan stare. "Pikachu... It's only Chapter 20 and you're already bringing a girl home?"

  "That's not it!" Gio waved his hands. "It's an emergency, Arua! This is Kasna, my classmate. She needs your help. She's infected by a Poltergeist curse. You can cure her, right?"

  Arua narrowed his half-shut eyes, brought his face closer to Kasna, violating her personal space. Feeling disturbed, Kasna spontaneously stepped back.

  "Where? She's clean." Gio was stunned, immediately opening his inner eye again. The spiritual wound from earlier had vanished without a trace.

  He forgot a core Consciology principle: The Reversal Law. Ophema substances are merely projections of Proteum matter. As long as Kasna's original body remained unharmed, the universe would auto-correct her projection. Through the Annihilation and Creation cycle, her spirit neck had been rebuilt to match the original reference.

  "Ummm..." Gio cut in. "The Poltergeist Jinn already ran away."

  Arua rolled his eyes lazily, pulling his face back. "Then I can't help her. Go ask that perverted, money-grubbing shaman."

  "Good idea." Gio punched his right fist into his left palm—a classic epiphany gesture. "Old Man Rojo must know something about this."

  Wasting no time, Gio turned around, ready to leave. "Let's go, Kasna." He shot a glance back at the door. "You're coming too, Arua!"

  "Pass, I'm busy." Arua grabbed the handle, intending to slam the door shut. But Gio was faster. He held the door with both hands and pushing it inward with all his might. "You were literally just sleeping, don't tell me you're busy!" he protested.

  Arua pushed back from the inside. "Get the fuck off!"

  Gio held his ground. "Come on! Just for a little bit!"

  Arua stared at the empty wall next to him in pure annoyance. “Sigh... This is exactly why I hate main characters..."

  Finally, the guy gave up. He dropped his grip and sidestepped right. Gio, still pushing with maximum force, lost his anchor. His own momentum launched him straight into the room and fell onto the carpet.

  Ignoring his cousin, Arua casually walked to the desk while putting on his uniform’s buttons. He snatched his wallet, keys, and phone in one motion.

  "Hurry up," he said as he stepped over Gio on his way out. He refused to waste another second.