After lunch the rest of the day went rather normally. Thankfully no one spotted Archer and Julia at the sandwich café and they returned to their respective classes without any fanfare. Archer simply sat in class and waited for the school day to be over.

  He did find relief when seeing Luna Foy looking to be more energetic as the day went on. While the ghost could still take over when in direct contact with people like Codrol, at the very least she will get a good night’s sleep, something Archer hoped to get very soon as well. Though seeing her finally starting to be able to resist the possession he couldn’t help but feel as though he was forgetting something.

  As the final bell rang for class Archer went to get up from his seat. He made sure to watch as Luna left the classroom and he silently followed behind. There was a part of him feeling rather self-conscious following his classmate around. It was akin to that of a weird creep.

  Sure he’s stalked and chased people down in the past. But they were all adults older than him and in the middle of doing various illegal and heinous acts, not some girl who doesn’t even know she was possessed. This made Archer feel as though he was one of those bad people, but he needed to keep track of her and her harem that she had unwittingly collected.

  As he was walking down the halls along with the other students he felt his phone vibrate. Finding a more private place to talk he made sure to keep his eye on Luna as he pulled out his phone.

  “Hello, Hello.” Archer said.

  “Archer it’s me.” Zoe's voice could be heard on the other side of the phone.

  "Isn't it supposed to be 'Agent, it's me?" Archer joked.

  "Shut up."

  “Okay, so what’s the call for?”

  “You just finished class right?”

  “Yep.”

  “Okay good. Did you give her the playlist?”

  “First thing I did when I met her today.”

  “Really? You were able to convince her?” Zoe asked in a teasing manner.

  “Hey I have my charms. You’re proof enough aren’t you?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Zoe said very quickly.

  “Oh, is soothsayer getting embwessed.” Archer said in a baby voice.

  “Shut up Archer.” She quickly snapped and annoyingly caused Archer to chuckle in response, “You’re the worst.” She said with a huff.

  “Seriously though Archer, don’t forget that the playlist is only a temporary solution. You still need to figure out why Luna’s so tired.” She said in a more serious tone.

  “I already know why. It’s the ghost.” Archer said in a whisper as he made sure he couldn’t be overheard.

  “That’s the what, not the why.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The ghost isn’t just giving Luna insomnia.”

  “Yeah, it was likely draining Luna’s strength to use for itself. But that’s normal.” Archer said shrugging.

  “How long has it been sapping her?”

  “Uh, two and a half days now.”

  “That’s enough to collect a fair bit of power with.”

  “To do what? The ghost is tied to Luna and the dungeon. There aren’t many places for it to go and nobody it really wants to hunt. Aside from Julia, and she’s steering clear of Luna right now.” Archer assured her.

  “Dungeon, not the school itself? Are you sure?”

  “Pretty sure, Luna got fully possessed in the dungeons then once she exited, she receded back to normal, or as normal as she can be right now. So the body is likely stuck down there.”

  “But the ghost still has enough power to act out right?”

  “Yeah once. Plus with the playlist she has Luna won’t be losing any more of her strength.” Archer said as he saw Luna and Codrol meet again. Rolling his eyes slightly he heard Zoe speak.

  “Where is Luna right now?”

  “In front of me, I’m watching her. She’s nowhere near Julia right now, plus all the witnesses.” Archer said casually.

  “As long as she doesn’t leave your sights.” Zoe agreed begrudgingly.

  “Don’t worry. I’ve dealt with the undead before. I know how ghosts work.” Archer paused before a cold wave of realization hit him, “Oh no.”

  “What?” Zoe said.

  “I forgot about what one of the identities for the ghost could be.” Archer said as he suddenly began running in the opposite direction of Luna.

  “What? What is it?” Zoe said alarmed.

  “A familiar summoner. Talk to you later.” He said as he hung up.

  “Careful Arch-” She said before being cut off. As Archer hung up on Zoe he called another number, Phil Doyle’s.

  “Archer? What do you need?”

  “Do you know where Julia Ming is right now?” Archer asked.

  ***

  Julia Ming let loose her ponytail and let her silky black hair flow down her back. Taking off her school uniform jacket in the locker in exchange for her gym clothes.

  “You look a lot better than you did this morning. What happened?” Her friend Reniece said noticing Julia’s more chipper demeanour.

  “I had just had some good news during lunch.” Julia said with a smile.

  “Oh? Have you finally gotten over Codrol?”

  “Oh please, as if he had any effect on me.” Julia scoffed.

  “You don’t need to lie to me, Codrol may have been a tool but it still annoyed you that he rejected you.”

  “It was what happened around it that bothered me.” Julia said bitterly, “But I don’t need to worry about that anymore. They’re not worth it.”

  “Good, they aren’t worth your time girl. Now get changed already. Everyone’s waiting for you on the track.” Reniece said as she left the locker room. Julia simply smiled and began to unbutton her shirt.

  ***

  “Where the hell are the changing rooms?” Archer cursed at himself as he ran through the halls avoiding getting spotted by students and teachers alike.

  “Which one of these stairs leads to the track field? My first P.E. class is on Friday! Why did they have to change Tuesday P.E. class to dungeon diving?” Archer whisper-yelled to himself as he continued to run around the school.

  As he turned a corner he nearly collided with another student. Stopping just in time before collision Archer was greeted by a wide-eyed F-rank startled girl, Emmra.

  “Sorry.” Archer apologised quickly about to move past her before whipping back to her, “Excuse me!” He said loudly.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Uh, yes?” Emmra said looking a bit perplexed.

  “Do you know where the track field is? I need to talk to the teacher there about signing a form.” Archer asked.

  “Oh, uh yeah, there’s the elevator on the other side of the building, but staircase E will get you to the bottom floor then take the second left you’ll be near the changing rooms.” Emmra said.

  “You’re a lifesaver. Thank you very kindly!” Archer said giving her a thankful smile.

  “Oh no worries.” Emmra said turning around before turning back momentarily, “What do you need to sigh any- huh?” She said stopping mid-sentence, as Archer had vanished.

  ***

  As Julia was stripped down to her white underwear and taking out her Trinity Academy given gym wear she suddenly felt a chill go down her spine. Pausing she looked around the place, the locker room was empty save for herself, the last classmate already exiting out a few moments ago. Yet Julia felt something was off.

  It was more a sixth sense than anything else. But it's the type of sense that what got Julia to A-rank in the first place. She studied the locker room carefully. The benches lined themselves across the changing room, a few towels, clothes and water bottles were placed on top of them.

  Julia watched as a towel was knocked to the ground by nothing she stared at where it fell and the area around and then she heard a growl. Realizing it had been caught a massive white wolf ceased its stealth and appeared before Julia.

  It was massive the size of a small car and it bared its fangs at her growling at her as it crouched, ready to leap. Julia took a step back as it jumped towards her and for the second time this week a massive magical canine tried to tear her apart. Also for the second time today, the canine leaping was intercepted by Archer Griffen.

  Entering the changing room just as it leapt forward, Archer grabbed the overgrown wolf by its hind legs. There the creature thrashed in the air snapping at Julia. Archer then swung the massive beast into a locker. With a loud metallic crack, the wolf and the lockers toppled over.

  Julia and Archer stared at each other in stunned silence for a brief second before Archer said, “I screwed up.” He said looking extremely apologetic.

  “Archer!” Julia screamed, pointing at the wolf that had quickly recovered and now stared at Archer with malice.

  It leapt forward and bit onto Archer’s right arm he had raised to protect himself. Its massive canines crunched down on the tiny boy’s arm. The sound of the wolf’s jaw clamping shut echoed through the room.

  Only the wolf’s eyes widened in surprise, it did not feel the piercing of flesh, and it did not taste any blood. Julia watched at the side in wonderment as she watched Archer’s expression. His expression was not one of pain, not even one quite of anger.

  It was closer to a look of mocking as Archer stared down the wolf. It was as if Archer was asking with his eyes if the wolf was sure of the decision that was made. There was genuine glee as Archer looked excited to deliver the consequences of the wolf’s actions.

  A lightning-quick left smashed into the snout of the beast left it immediately in a daze. He then grabbed the wolf, one hand still inside its mouth, and began to lift it in the air and slam it back down and repeated the motion.

  On the second slam the wolf was sufficiently incapacitated; he snapped the wolf’s jaw in two and the creature went stiff before vanishing before it even hit the ground. Julia stunned by this brutality simply stared in awe at Archer.

  “Still no decent fight.” Archer said as he rubbed his arm that was bitten. His voice was rougher and angrier than Julia had ever heard before, he then turned back to Julia, “Are you okay? You’re not hurt are you?” He said his demeanor shifting back to the much friendlier and gentler version she was accustomed to.

  “No, you saved me again.” Julia said recovering from the event, “What was that?”

  “A mistake on my end. I forgot that one of the identities of the ghost could be a familiar summoner. I should have realized that it would try to make a play like this.” Archer said staring at where the wolf once was and shaking his head in disappointment. He walked over to the fallen lockers and lifted them back in place.

  “Don’t blame yourself. It’s not you-” Julia paused as she heard someone entering the locker.

  “What was that noise? Julia what is happening?” The teacher in charge of watching the track team Mrs. Donaven entered looking confused. Her confusion doubled as she entered to see that the locker room was normal. Julia was still in the middle of dressing.

  “Is something the matter?” Julia asked.

  “Did you hear a noise?” Mrs. Donaven said looking confused.

  “Uh, no.” Julia said looking at Mrs. Donaven quizzically.

  “Okay, hurry and get changed. Everyone’s waiting for you.” Mrs. Donaven said before leaving the room again.

  After waiting a moment Julia looked up and watched Archer drop back down from where he hung from the ceiling. Archer looked over to Julia about to say something before quickly turning around and stared at a locker.

  “Let’s uh, talk after this… you know, once you’re done with whatever this curricular is and you know, we aren’t in the women’s changing room.” Archer said sheepishly.

  “Huh? Oh!” Julia said becoming self-conscious about how they were alone and she was in her underwear quickly brought her arms up to cover herself, “Yeah, leave.”

  “Could you please turn around for a second?”

  “What do you want you pervert?” Julia said glaring at Archer’s back, she felt herself turning red.

  “What? No! No! It’s just easier for me to disappear if you aren’t staring directly at me.” Archer said quickly.

  “You better not try anything funny.” Julia warned as she glanced away for a second before turning back, “You here that- huh.” Julia said realizing that Archer did indeed vanish. Julia took a second to collect herself before putting on her track clothes.

  ***

  As Julia quickly said goodbye to her friends after practice, she walked out the school's main door and saw Archer sitting near the base of the cherry blossom tree, eyes closed and sound asleep. He looked so peaceful that Julia felt it wrong to disturb his sleep.

  “I’m awake!” Archer said quickly, eyes snapping open as if her presence woke him up.

  “Sorry to have disturbed your nap.” Julia said looking amused. This was the first time she’d seen Archer in such a relaxed and genuine manner.

  “No, no. It’s fine. Had nothing to do anyways.” Archer said as he sat up and stretched, “Nothing happened right?”

  “Not since the wolf. Thank you by the way.” Julia said.

  “It’s my job.” Archer said with a yawn, “This is going to be a bit annoying but we should go back into the school.” He said gesturing at the building.

  “Why?”

  “Because I think you’re pretty involved with things now, you deserve to talk with the actual adults about what’s happened.” Archer said as he began to head back to the school, Julia followed behind.

  “Where are we going?”

  “We’re going to talk to a couple of faculty members. It’ll make sense when we get there. I’ll explain all the information I gathered there.”

  The two then headed straight to the principal's office. Julia noted how Archer purposefully did his best to avoid encountering anyone else. Pausing and disappearing when someone goes to greet Julia and only reemerging once they left. Bad for reputation was his excuse, Julia didn’t know why, but it bothered her a bit.

  Very soon they entered the main office Julia was surprised to find it empty. As she looked around Archer answered her unspoken question for her.

  “The principal made sure that we won’t be seen.”

  “The principal?” Julia said shocked, “You work for her?”

  “Technically with, but yes.” Archer said as he brazenly opened the door to the principal’s office and walked in.

  “Is that a hallway?”

  “I know weird right?” Archer said as they walked down the short hallway. As he reached the door he turned back to Julia, “Ah, a teacher Phil Doyle will be in there as well.”

  “Who’s Phil Doyle?”

  “You’re about to find out.” He said as he opened the door.

  Entering the room, the principal with navy blue hair stood tall even when seated. By her side was a man with well-kept hair and square-rimmed glasses with a booklet in hand.

  “Julia Ming, it is good to see you.” Electa Cowen said greeting her warmly, “I apologize for what has happened to you lately.

  “Uh, no. It’s okay. I was kept safe.” Julia said surprised and looked over to Archer as to why she was kept unharmed.

  “I thank you for that Archer.” Electa said looking at him.

  “Just doing my job.” Archer said with a nod.

  “Now as Archer has already informed you and you are well aware that Luna Foy has been possessed by a vengeful spirit.” Electa said addressing Julia, “I regret that I am unable to help you more directly.”

  “It’s alright, Archer already told what would happen if the teachers were to find out about this. I don’t want to see Luna get her life ruined through bad luck.” Julia said quickly, “But I don’t understand why you can’t just exorcise the ghost secretly.”

  “I want to but…” Electa trailed off with an unpleasant look on her face, “This school likes to do something they refer to as toughness breeds success.”

  “Toughness?”

  “Yes, as you may have already heard rumors and know when you applied to this school, the teachers tend not to get involved with student disputes. They do their best to keep you alive when they have to watch over you but that’s about it.”

  “Why?”

  “The creators of Trinity Academy went through many hardships and they taught their students that they needed to be the best. With times more peaceful, the idea of being superior to their peers never vanished. Thus creating this type of environment.”

  “I heard some stories, but is it really that bad?” Julia asked looking stunned at the reaction of the school principal.

  “Yes and no. This is a great school that teaches people many things, but complaints that may be considered bullying elsewhere are often ignored here. It’s also why we encourage you to take dangerous missions and quests.” Electa said her head bowed in shame.

  “That’s not to say that Miss Cowen hasn’t done anything to improve things. The last two years she has been in charge of the school many more lower ranks have been able to graduate in comparison to previous years.” Phil added.

  “I see.” Julia said taking a moment to process, “Then why can’t you directly help Luna?”

  “Because to do that would require employing some priest or cleric and doing that would be considered a mark of embarrassment for a student to be possessed by a ghost. Luna Foy is barely allowed to be in Trinity Academy. If word got out about this, she would have no chance of staying at the academy.”

  “You’re awfully kind to those who most would consider weak, a bit different from the culture here, eh?” Archer noted.

  Electa gave him a small smile, “I suppose I believe that greatness can come from anywhere.”

  “So what happens now?” Julia asked.

  “Now the plan is for you to return to your normal daily life. Archer as he told me should solve the issue with Luna tomorrow. We decided to tell you this as it only felt appropriate after everything that’s happened. We do hope you keep quiet about all of this.”

  “I will, I don’t blame Luna for this, she's just as unlucky as I am.” Julia said nodding her head.

  “Oh by the way, so the room I asked for?” Archer asked hopefully.

  “It’s been set up and is ready for you to use.” Phil answered.

  “Nice.” Archer said flashing a devious grin.

  “Would you like to be escorted back home?” Phil offered.

  “Oh! Actually, could I escort her?” Archer interjected poking his head between Phil and Julia, “I have a few things I want to go over with her.”

  “Of course.” Phil said.

  “Then shall we head back out of here?” Archer asked as the two left the principal's office.