It was wrong to hope that Jongin would stay by Nara’s side until she woke up the next morning. After a friendly chat – she considered it friendly, since it was with the supposedly most vicious evil spirit – and sharing her food with him in her room last night, she thought he would accept her as his partner – she didn’t like to think of him as a familiar, or anything that made him sound like a servant. She thought he would stay behind to help her in her training to become a full-fledged exorcist as he’d agreed.

However, Nara was dumb to fully trust the words coming out from an evil spirit’s mouth.

Now that she could gather spiritual energy at will, it was possible to just summon Jongin whenever Nara wanted to spar, but she didn’t want to use her authority over her familiar to force him into doing what she wanted. She preferred him to do it on his own accord.

Dejected and disappointed, Nara climbed out of the bed and got ready for school. She kept regretting for being overly happy about the development in their relationship that wasn’t actually there. If she hadn’t had much expectation, she wouldn’t have to wake up feeling awfully terrible.

And it got worse when Nara arrived at school to find Soomi and Minhyuk waiting for her at the front gate.

“Nara, what the hell happened yesterday?” Soomi demanded. “Why did I wake up in a hospital?”

Fixing his glasses, Minhyuk added. “The doctor couldn’t give us clear explanation of our condition as well. He said both of us have symptoms of anemia, which is exceptionally weird. What are the chances that two people who don’t have anemia suddenly faint out of anemia at the very same time?”

Nara had temporarily forgotten about them. And considering the things that had happened yesterday, it might be a lot harder to convince the two of them with her lies. Especially Soomi, who seemed skeptical of all the things she said. But she had no other choices. It was for their own safety.

It would be better if they were kept in the dark. It would be better if Nara didn’t drag them into her own problems.

I’m sorry, guys. Nara sighed, faking her exasperation. “But it’s the truth! You two suddenly fainted when you caught up with me!”

“And you expect us to buy that?” Soomi folded her arms and arched her brow.

Ignoring Soomi, Nara fastened her pace to their classroom. Soomi and Minhyuk followed closely behind her, still demanding answers. While Soomi was asking in partly angry and partly curious tone, Minhyuk was adding facts why Nara’s explanation didn’t make sense.

Ironically, for Vanillas, the truth made even less sense than Nara’s lie.

The two of them didn’t stop pestering her even after they arrived at their class. And it made her uneasy, because their classmates started staring at them. She hated being stared at as if she was a freak, as if she wasn’t normal. Although this time, the students were just plainly curious like Soomi and Minhyuk.

Nara couldn’t help but feeling more anxious the more Soomi and Minhyuk blabbered the whole story of yesterday’s incident. Their voices were so loud that she’s sure the whole class could hear them clearly. More than anything, she didn’t want her classmates to think of her as a weird person.

“Eh?” Baekhyun turned to join their conversation, which was surprising because he hardly spoke to anyone at class. What was more unbelievable was he actually looked interested. “The two of you went to chase Nara and when you caught up with her, you suddenly fainted? And the doctor said you have anemia symptoms?”

A frown of displeasure contracted Soomi’s brow. She didn’t seem delighted in the slightest to include him in their talk. “It’s rude to in on other people’s conversation, don’t you think?”

On the contrary, Minhyuk was evidently elated. “It doesn’t make sense, doesn’t it? You think so too right, Baekhyun?”

“Sure do.” Baekhyun glanced at Nara suspiciously and then, as if he’d already confirmed his suspicion, the corner of his lips quirked up faintly. “I’ve heard cases like these a few times before. It’s strange, isn’t it?”

Minhyuk snapped his fingers enthusiastically. “Indeed! Anemia isn’t an infectious disease! Have you ever thought that maybe it’s not anemia?”

“There’s a few possibilities I have in my mind. Want me to tell you what I’ve been thinking?” Seeing Minhyuk nodding his head, Baekhyun continued, “What if everything you see isn’t everything? What if there’s something else? Something else that we’re not supposed to see? And what if some of us are actually able to—”

“Shut it, Baekhyun!” Soomi hissed. “Don’t say another word!”

Baekhyun clucked his tongue amusedly. “Should you be so hostile towards your classmate, Soomi?”

Feeling anxious as hell, Nara gulped nervously. It’s not only because of the tension in the air between Baekhyun and Soomi, who seemed to have known each other for a long time, not in good terms obviously. It’s also because of the way Baekhyun looked at her.

Does he know that I can see spirits? Nara thought warily. No, it mustn’t be. He wasn’t with us yesterday.

“Nara? Are you okay? You’re so pale,” Soomi said worriedly.

Nara shook her head as hard as she could. “No, I’m totally fine!”

It didn’t seem like Soomi believed Nara. However, luck was on Nara’s side. The bell rang, followed by Teacher Han’s arrival at the classroom, preventing Soomi to ask her further questions.

Irritated, Soomi turned to face the front of the class. Minhyuk scurried back to his seat, which was far from theirs. And Baekhyun was already asleep when Nara glanced at her side.

Nara took a deep breath in relief. At least she would be free from their nagging about yesterday’s incident during lessons.

Throughout the homeroom, Nara mostly tuned out Teacher Han’s pep talk about their upcoming quizzes and whatnot. She was never a good student and with spirits distracting her from her lessons, she probably would never be one. Therefore, she didn’t bother to try paying attention, knowing she would fail, anyway. However, her ears perked up when Teacher Han suddenly mentioned a festival taking place next week.

“Do you know what festival will be held next week?” Teacher Han asked, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “Precisely, on April 4th?”

Minhyuk raised his hand, eager to answer. “Tano Kami Festival. It’s a festival held every spring when we start planting rice. We pray to Tano Kami – the God of Agriculture – to observe the harvest of rice plants or to bring good harvest.”

Teacher Han clapped her hands proudly. “Good, Minyuk. Your answer is right. Jeongshin High has a tradition that every time there’s a festival, our students will help the priests and priestesses and other organizers in preparing. So now, we will choose two students as members of students committee that will be the intermediaries between the members of Tano Kami Shrine – where the festival is held – and all of the students in this school to organize the distribution of the tasks. Are there any volunteers?”

In an instant, everyone avoided Teacher Han’s eyes, not wanting to do any additional works. Nara’s gaze landed on Baekhyun who had his eyes closed. She wondered whether he’s actually sleeping or he just pretended to be asleep.

“If there’s no volunteer, I’ll choose myself,” Teacher Han cheerfully said. “Baekhyun!”

Groaning, Baekhyun lifted his head.

Teacher Han smiled in amusement. “You always sleep in class. Then you must have extra energy to do this, right?”

Baekhyun only rolled his eyes before resting his head down on the desk, unmistakably going back to sleep.

“Nara?” Teacher Han called.

“Yes?” Nara answered, bad feeling growing inside her.

Nara never liked festivals. Most of the time, there were too many spirits around in festival grounds during festivals, even if shrines were supposed to be protected with barriers. That might be the reason why she felt edgy whenever she approached a shrine.

Clearly, she didn’t want to have anything to do with this Tano Kami Festival. But of course, things didn’t simply go her way.

With her overly sweet smile, Teacher Han looked somewhat intimidating. “You’re new to this town, right? Then this will be your chance to get to know about this town more. Help Baekhyun, okay?”

Nara had no other choices than to agree. “Okay.”

When she looked down at her desk, she saw a piece of paper. She read:

Follow me at lunch break. We need to talk about students committee.

She involuntarily glanced at Baekhyun, but the boy was still closing his eyes. She shifted her gaze back towards the piece of paper on her table. Somehow, she had the feeling that students committee wasn’t the only thing Baekhyun wanted to talk about.

As soon as the bell signaling lunchtime rang, Baekhyun sprang up from his seat and hurried out of the classroom. Nara had to trot to keep up with him. Annoyed, she glared at Baekhyun’s back. He’d asked her to follow him, but he looked like someone who didn’t want to be followed.

What does he want exactly? Nara thought in rage as she climbed up the stairs leading to the rooftop. Is there a need to be this secretive?

But then she realized in horror. There was a need to be secretive, if the thing he wanted to talk about was that.

She held herself back from the urge to immediately return to the classroom. He’d said that he’s going to talk about students committee. She would be irresponsible if she neglected her duty. And she didn’t want other students to see her as a person who didn’t have a proper sense of responsibility. As if being considered as a weird person wasn’t already bad enough.

Baekhyun finally slowed down when they arrived at the rooftop. Maybe it was because they were early, no one else was there besides them. That explained why he was in a hurry.

He approached the chain-link fence and leant his back against it. Closing his eyes, he said, “The breeze is nice here.”

“Just get to the point, please,” Nara muttered, slightly irritated.

“You’re no fun.” Baekhyun opened his eyes and moved a step forward. “We’re visiting Tano Kami Shrine after school. If you have other schedule, cancel it. We have no time to spare.”

Nara blinked at him. “What? So sudden?”

Baekhyun shrugged. “I’ve contacted an acquaintance. He’s a priest in Tano Kami Shrine and he said we can visit today.”

He’s acquainted with a priest? Nara thought in surprise. A realization struck her right after. Oh, right. This isn’t Seoul. This is Jejin. There are more shrines than convenience stores here.

“Okay, I’m free today,” Nara sai