Jeongshin High, the one and only high school in Jejin, was about fifteen-minute walk from Yona’s house. But Nara was planning to explore the town after school and it would be too exhausting if she went on foot. Jiwoo’s grandmother had said that Jejin was a beautiful town, so Nara wanted to prove its truth by seeing its loveliness with her own eyes.

Looking at her own reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirror near the front door, Nara sighed. She was wearing a brand new spring school uniform – black blazer with the silver name plate on the left side, white long-sleeve shirt, red tie and black skirt. Her thin, wispy bangs that exposed a bit of her forehead were sticking out at odd angles. Her long dark brown hair was a bit messy because it was carelessly combed. She had a dispirited and resigned expression on her face. Normally, people would be excited on their first day of school, but Nara was hardly looking forward to it.

New school meant new people. New people meant more people to be deceived. Nara might be lying almost all the time, but she didn’t enjoy doing it one bit. If it wasn’t for the safety of the people around her, she wouldn’t have been this dishonest.

“Want me to drive you to school?” Yona asked as she was putting on her knee-length white boots. She and Nara had just done with their breakfast and they were ready to go.

Nara looked away from the mirror to see Yona. Her cousin was wearing her all-white exorcist uniform – white shirt, white trousers and formal, long white coat with the Chinese character of “Kim” and six stars under it printed in black on the left side of the sleeve and something like an insignia printed on the right. Nara guessed the “Kim” letter was to indicate which clan Yona belonged to and the six stars must have something to do with her rank.

Weirdly, she wasn’t carrying the huge double-edged sword with her.

Shaking her head, Nara said gratefully, “Thanks for the offer, but can I borrow your bike instead?”

Yona gave her a questioning look, but she didn’t ask anything. She gladly lent her old, dusty bike which was neglected in the garage and drove off to work. Nara spent a few minutes cleaning the bike before leaving for school. Fortunately, the bike still functioned properly.

It took her approximately ten minutes to cycle to school – or maybe shorter. It was rather hard to ignore many youkai who called out to her along the way, but she managed to keep speeding up and pretend she couldn’t hear anything. She headed straight to the teacher’s room when she arrived, waiting the teacher to walk her to her new class and introduced her to her new classmates. The school year had started three weeks ago before she had unwillingly moved into the town.

Just like other buildings in the neighborhood, this school also had been constructed in modern Japanese style with a touch of traditional Japanese style – wooden floor instead of modern tiles and fusuma or sliding doors made from paper and wooden board instead of swinging doors. Nara also had put her shoes at one of the lockers at the entryway and was wearing indoor shoes to move around inside the school – removing shoes before entering home, school and other places was one of Japanese customs.

Jiwoo’s grandmother was right. Jejin was like a tiny version of Japan in South Korea.

“We have a new student today.” Nara’s homeroom teacher, who had introduced herself as Teacher Han, averted her gaze from the class and turned to Nara who was standing beside her. “Come on. Introduce yourself.”

Nara stepped forward and took a deep breath. She then faced her classmates, forcing a smile. “My name is Kim Nara. I came here from Seoul. Let’s get along well.”

After bowing, she straightened up and saw that there’s something wrong: all of the seats were occupied. Was she supposed to drag a desk from other classroom which had an extra desk for her to sit here? Was transferring schools always such a hassle like this?

To her horror, Teacher Han said, “Nara, isn’t it? You can take that empty seat beside Baekhyun.”

Nara’s eyes darted frantically around the room. There’s no empty seat!

Gulping nervously, Nara realized that one of these occupants must be a spirit. She was trying to calm herself down as she stared at the students one by one, searching the one with weird features – she’d learnt that most youkai usually had odd characteristics. And her gaze landed on the girl sitting at the back corner of the class, next to the window.

The girl looked exactly like human – long black hair, beautiful face and pale skin. Nara wouldn’t be able to recognize her if she wasn’t wearing a flashy pink kimono and a weird-looking red demon mask on the side of her head.

Teacher Han said, “Baekhyun, raise your hand.”

The pale, skinny boy next to the youkai raised his hand indifferently. Nara inhaled a shaky breath and went towards her seat, thinking hard about how she could avoid sitting there. Accidentally, as she was walking, she met the youkai’s eyes.

Nara gasped, frozen to the spot. Making an eye contact with a youkai was the same as announcing that she could see them.

“You can see me, little girl?” The youkai hummed in amusement. “Interesting. Then you can do me a little favor.”

“Teacher Han.” Nara spun around hurriedly. “Can I change seats? I tend to get distracted if I sit next to the window.”

Great, I lied as soon as I entered my new classroom, she thought sadly. What a wonderful first day of school.

The youkai got to her feet and smiled wickedly. “You think you can escape me, silly girl? Come now, quickly sit here so I can have a bit of your life energy. Only a bit, don’t worry.”

Baekhyun, the boy with pale skin, stood up and heaved his school bag. “You can take my seat.”

No! Don’t sit there! She’ll take your life energy! was what Nara wanted to say. She’d learnt if people had their life energy taken by spirits, they would get sick and the spirits would get stronger. But it’s not like he would believe her if she told him. So she stayed still, watching, unable to do anything. She hadn’t known how to drive spirits away yet. And she hated herself for being so weak and useless. She couldn’t even protect her classmate from her own trouble.

Suddenly, Baekhyun glowed like he was the spotlight itself. Blinding white light emanated from his whole body, shining the entire classroom. It was very bright that Nara automatically shut her eyes. She heard the youkai shrieked in agony.

What is happening? Nara wondered curiously.

When the screaming had stopped, Nara carefully opened her eyes. She found that the youkai was gone and Baekhyun was already sitting down nonchalantly on the supposedly empty seat.

“Nara? What happened?” Teacher Han asked worriedly. “You look pale. Are you feeling sick? Do you need to go to the infirmary?”

Nara shook her head. “No, I’m fine, Teacher Han.”

“If that so, do you mind sitting down? The class has started.”

“I’m sorry,” Nara said apologetically and took Baekhyun’s original seat.

From the look everyone gave her, Nara guessed no one had been able to see that light, which could only meant that light was created from spiritual energy. Had the youkai done something to Baekhyun? Or was that even Baekhyun sitting there? Had she possessed him?

Nara shifted her gaze to Baekhyun. He seemed normal just like before – uninterested, drowsy and bored – and he hadn’t done anything unusual. He wasn’t being possessed. Then, what had happened earlier when she’d closed her eyes? What light was that? Where had the youkai gone to?

Saving the questions to ask Yona later, Nara decided to focus on her class. The first period was Japanese folklore - Teacher Han was the one teaching – and she needed to pay attention to know better of all the youkai she had been seeing.

Soon, Japanese folklore had become Nara’s favorite subject. It’s really interesting to learn the history of each youkai and deity. Some of the stories were touching and some others were terrifying. She finally knew why Jiwoo liked Japanese mythology. Her classmates seemed to enjoy the lesson, too. Well, probably, except Baekhyun who had yawned countless times since the beginning of the lesson.

Teacher Han lifted an illustration of an umbrella with one eye, one leg, two hands and a long tongue coming out from its mouth. It was surprisingly similar with the youkai she’d seen yesterday near the bus stop.

“This youkai is called Kasa-obake,” Teacher Han explained. “People believe that Kasa-obake was first born when a wandering spirit possessed a 100-year-old umbrella. They’re harmless, but they’re pranksters. They like to sneak up on humans while they’re sleeping and their faces with their long, large tongue. Their are quite traumatic as humans can actually