Global Sign-in: 10x Multiplier with the Strongest System!-Chapter 74: The Weeping Ghost [2]

Roy watched Pierre take the possessed Hanabira Reina to the school roof, where a picnic setup was waiting.

Pierre spread the clothes out and invited her to sit. Out of his lunch box, he handed her a sandwich while they played a love mini game handled by the system. Pierre had to match broken hearts in rapid succession in threes or more to merge them into a full red heart, a golden heart, and so on. If he wasn’t fast enough in matching the broken hearts in the table filled with stones, diamonds, sweets, and other jewels, the three-minute timer would run out, and the next stage would immediately begin. Completing the mini game netted him 10 Affection, though he could’ve earned more if he were more skilled.

And when the game ended, the possessed Reina was in a happy mood. So as they ate their sandwich, Pierre’s dialogue options arose again.

[A: Do you remember how you died?]

[B: Is it tasty?]

[C: I love you (−20 Love Points).]

’No. Now’s not the time to use Je t’aime.’ Pierre wanted to keep the date easy-going and ask the more serious question later, but he didn’t have all day, and there were only five minutes left on the timer before the ghost possession wore off.

"Beauty-san... Do you remember how you died?" Pierre asked.

The possessed Reina stared at him for a few seconds, as though trying to remember, but then suddenly grabbed her head and ground her teeth, dropping the sandwich in her hand.

"Beauty-san! What’s wrong?" Pierre worriedly asked.

She grabbed her hair and let out a ghostly, painful scream. Pierre grabbed her hands, trying to stop her from harming the original Reina’s body.

"What... is... my... naaaaammeee?!" She screamed gut-wrenchingly and wrestled with Pierre, her hair extended and wrapped around his arms, legs, and neck.

Pierre floated up into the air and grabbed at the hair tightening around his neck, but he could do little to stop it from choking him.

"Ack... ack... ack... AHHHH!!!" Beauty grabbed her hair and fell to the floor, screaming and contorting Reina’s body in worrying angles.

"Kof! Beauty-san... kof! Please..." Pierre pleaded, immensely surprised at this turn of events. He had no clue that a ghost possessing someone could give them powers! And now, he was going to die because of this ignorance.

"I... love... you," he managed to squeeze out. He didn’t feel much pain, but he did feel his airway constrict, which affected his speech.

Beauty flinched at his words and looked up at his hanging body, recognition flashing past her red eyes.

With a final scream at the sky, Reina faced down and saw Pierre coughing violently on the floor.

She quickly bent down to help, despite not knowing what transpired.

"Pierre-kun, are you okay? What happened?" she looked about and spotted the overturned picnic setup.

"I’m... I’m fine."

Pierre was helped to stand up, and he and Reina went down the roof. He lied to her that the ghost possession didn’t work, and they had a quick date, wondering if she was just joking that she didn’t remember. After she reiterated her seriousness, Pierre added that he had asked her something, and she began to strangle him. Reina apologized multiple times, but Pierre laughed it off and commented on her strength.

He walked her to the school gate, and weirdly enough, their short conversation had her affection for him increase by five.

That night, the weeping Pierre heard was much more violent and vengeful.

"This is hella wrong," Roy said, shaking his head and switching the time dilation back to the real world’s. "Tricking Reina to submit her body like that. No wonder he’s an asshole."

[Day 18: On your way to school, you no longer witness a shadow following you, nor can you spot the weeping ghost in the mirror anymore. This troubles you greatly.

During recess, you look for Ayame and Choji and ask questions about how the occult club started and anything they might have found weird about Hanabira Reina. You find out the club was created in the previous semester from Choji and from Ayame, you learn that Reina’s love for and interest in mysticism and spirituality had reduced compared to how she was before; evident of when she stopped the investigation into the weeping ghost.

After school, you search for the weeping ghost, but to no avail. You checked the girls’ locker room, but there was nothing there. You consider dropping a letter in the abandoned locker, but Hanabira Reina finds you in there. Afraid she might suspect you are looking for the weeping ghost, you lie that you wanted to steal a piece of her clothing, like a creep. You apologize and run away, but you catch her blushing.]

[+10 Affection.]

"Tch. Bastard." Roy wasn’t happy. No matter what Pierre did, he just seemed to gain their affection. If he were the one caught saying such a thing, his eternal nickname would be ’ugly-perv-creep.’

’Okay, maybe not ugly. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves now.’

So far, Pierre had actually accomplished the first objective of the Hidden Story. This was progress. However, he only had one day left before the story ended in failure.

[Day 19: At lunch break, you overhear students say there is a ghost in the school swimming pool. Someone almost drowned, and someone else say the saw it.

You wasted no time and went to investigate...]

Pierre entered the indoor swimming pool hall and saw that everything was normal. Holding onto the colorful stones in his pocket, he walked up to the pool and stared at his clear reflection.

There was a black thing in the water, beneath his shadow, coming up at him, and as he tried to pull away, it caught his neck!

Wet, black, straw-like hair strangled him, and the vengeful, weeping ghost in a dirty red gown and gloves emerged from the water. Her dark hair formed a web in the swimming pool hall.

Pierre just noticed that the windows and exit door had been snapped shut, leaving the place in darkness.

The eyes of the tall ghost were bloodshot, her greyish-blue skin stretching thin on her long arms. She growled out, "Grr.... w...what... is... my... name?"

Moisture had already begun filling Pierre’s eyes. All he could make out were the vague shapes of her body, hair, and blood-red eyes. This was no longer the easy-going, pink, and happy LOVE.exe. This was something else entirely.

"B... Beauty-san..." Pierre struggled out, but the grip on his neck simply tightened.

No dialogue options were appearing. If Pierre didn’t find a way to survive through this, everything ended.

As Pierre’s vision faded, and he could feel nothing but his heartbeat, he remembered his [Love Sensor] skill.

The weeping ghost was just a regular wandering spirit before, which was why he couldn’t see it unless through mirrors and the periphery of his vision. But now, it was a full-blown vengeful spirit. If he hadn’t come here, surely she would’ve killed someone sooner or later and would’ve become even more vengeful.

But due to this skill, when all other senses were filtered out, he could feel the love buried within all that pain and hatred. A love so pure, a heart so lonely.

"I... see now. It’s... okay," he voiced, "I... know... your... name..."

Her crazed eyes seemed to attain some patience, and she paused to hear him complete his words.

"Your name... is... Hanabira Reina!"

Roy’s eyes widened in shock. ’Her name is WHAT?!’

"Hana... bira... Reina...?" voiced the weeping ghost, unsure.

"Yes! I’m sure of it. I know... because..." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Pierre slammed his chest, his expression deeply serious.

"Because... Je t’aime (I love you)!"

Just as he said this, the white light of his heart went forward, entering her soul and burning away all that hatred and pain, and rescuing the light within.

Among the pain was a memory of her being strangled as she drowned in this very same pool, wearing the red dress and gloves. She cried out for help, but no one came to her aid. And as she felt her consciousness slip away, all she could feel was regret. A deep regret... that she never got to love and be loved truly.

Roy could see it too, on a video panel that opened beside him.

When Pierre came to, he witnessed tears falling down her face. Her red eyes were already closed, and her black hair covered the upper part of her face.

He raised his hand and smiled lightly. Although he couldn’t touch her since she was a ghost, he still kept his hand where her cheek should be and said, "Reina-san, don’t cry anymore. I will protect you."