“Tell me honestly, can you peek at what I’m thinking?”
Wen Zhi’s tone remained gentle, but there was no emotion in his deep, pitch-black eyes.
Under that intensely oppressive gaze, Ghost stopped playing dumb and lowered its head like a child who’d done something wrong, not daring to meet Wen Zhi’s eyes.
“Ding ( •̥́ ˍ •̀ू )~”
Ghost gave a quiet response, which counted as an acknowledgment of Wen Zhi’s guess.
Wen Zhi wasn’t an especially demanding person.
He could understand why Ghost needed to use Mind Reading to communicate while they couldn’t speak the same language.
But since he’d recently had an experience where the Diary seemed to affect his mind, and Ghost could read his thoughts, he couldn’t help imagining the worst and becoming wary.
But seeing Ghost look so wronged and pitiful, like a child being scolded by an adult, Wen Zhi suddenly found it a little funny.
Ghost’s current appearance gave Wen Zhi a strong sense of deja vu.
When Wen Zhi had been a Teacher, he often saw children like this.
They were born into cold, high-pressure households, where their parents placed too many expectations and too much pressure on them, and even the slightest mistake brought harsh criticism.
These children rarely received affirmation or encouragement as they grew up, so they always seemed cautious, afraid of making a mistake.
They tended to turn their frustration inward and were introverted and sensitive.
Now, from Ghost’s various behaviors, Wen Zhi keenly noticed some of those traits.
‘So even in another world, you can’t escape your family of origin?’
Wen Zhi couldn’t help arriving at that strange conclusion.
“I don’t mean to blame you, so you don’t have to be so nervous.”
“I just hope that if you want to read my thoughts when we’re not talking, you can ask my permission first.”
Wen Zhi’s voice softened a little.
Given Ghost’s behavior, it was hard for him to believe it had any malicious intent.
Maybe he’d been overthinking it?
Perhaps it was a Teacher’s occupational habit, but as he spoke, Wen Zhi instinctively wanted to ruffle Ghost’s head.
Then he remembered how Ghost had hissed earlier and realized it might not like being touched, so he drew back the hand he’d halfway extended.
Ghost noticed the gesture and took it as a sign that Wen Zhi didn’t trust it.
It immediately grew restless and insecure, afraid of what it might lose.
But Ghost knew that the more panicked and restless it got, the more it needed to stay calm.
Calm down.
The hardest part was already over.
Now, as long as it proceeded steadily and slowly earned his trust, everything would be fine…
But how should it do that?
Ghost considered the question.
‘Maybe I should try to actively please him…’
Ghost gritted its teeth and chose to abandon that damn pride and reserve.
No matter who it had once been, now it was only a wisp of a soul attached to the Diary.
It had no choice.
The problem was, Ghost had never tried to please anyone before.
After thinking it over, it figured that Wen Zhi seemed to like ruffling its head, so it stiffly moved into his palm on its own and clumsily rubbed against him twice.
“……”
Feeling the soft, squishy sensation in his hand, Wen Zhi froze, unsure what to do.
He didn’t understand why Ghost was doing this.
Not long ago, it had clearly resisted touching him.
So why was it now pressing itself against him, even though it seemed uncomfortable?
But when Wen Zhi noticed the fear and unease that always lingered around Ghost, he felt he understood.
Ghost always seemed so fragile.
It didn’t seem to feel safe at all, as if it were always afraid of something.
‘What is it afraid of?’
Considering Ghost’s behavior and its past, the answer didn’t seem hard to find.
If Ghost hadn’t lied to him, then it had come to this unfamiliar place when it was still a child.
And died in this unfamiliar place.
It had become a soul that was nothing at all, wearing itself away in solitude over and over again.
What could it still hope for?
“…If I said I was going to throw away this Diary, what would you do?”
Wen Zhi unconsciously tested it, thinking of all this.
“…Ding Σ(っ °Д °;)っ?”
It was an emoticon, but Wen Zhi could still read the disbelief in the simple drawing.
‘What would happen?’
If it were abandoned, it would probably go back to quietly staying alone in some hidden corner, wouldn’t it?
It would pass one aimless day after another, waiting for another miracle to happen…
Or perhaps nothing would ever change again, and it would remain alone forever, its consciousness completely worn away by despair and loneliness over the long stretch of time until it fell into eternal silence.
Just thinking about that possibility filled Ghost’s heart with overwhelming fear.
The soft, snow-white Ghost froze in midair, as if the whole world had abandoned it.
In truth, for Ghost, being abandoned by Wen Zhi wasn’t much different from being abandoned by the world.
‘If you’re going to abandon me, could you tell me why first?’
If it had offended Wen Zhi somehow, Ghost promised it would correct its behavior right away.
It would never again call Wen Zhi a hairless monkey in its heart.
It also knew lots of things and useful knowledge!
So… so… please don’t… abandon me…
Unfortunately, Ghost couldn’t speak.
Everything it wanted to say, every explanation it wanted to offer, was blocked up inside it.
It couldn’t get a word out.
Ghost had never hated being unable to speak and communicate as much as it did at that moment.
It remembered the days it had once lived through, those suffocating days spent all alone, and the loneliness that could drown its soul.
Thinking about all that, Ghost, which had been suppressing its feelings for so long, could no longer keep them in check.
Its expression grew more and more miserable.
When Ghost had still been alive, it hadn’t been so fragile.
It had always been good at grinding up its negative emotions and swallowing them, then quietly dealing with them alone.
But now, death had taken so much from it that it couldn’t even remember who it was.
There was no reason for Ghost to suppress those feelings anymore.
A quiet sob escaped it.
Like rain falling from a gloomy sky, its tears came down in waves.
Ghost: (╥_╥).
“Wait, wait, wait!”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Don’t cry!”
Wen Zhi felt helpless as Ghost sobbed.
He couldn’t stand seeing anyone cry because of him, and until that moment, he’d thought Ghost could only make dinging sounds.
He didn’t have time to worry about anything else.
He hurriedly stroked the crying little Ghost to comfort it, saying as he did:
“That was just a hypothetical… just a hypothetical.”
“I’m not planning to throw away the Diary.”
It was the truth.
Wen Zhi still thought there were many suspicious things about the Diary, but he really wasn’t planning to throw it away.
Certainly, the safest thing to do was to discard every uncontrollable element and prioritize caution.
But that was the mindset of the weak!
Leaving aside the Diary’s own purpose and value, the fragile little Ghost alone made it impossible for Wen Zhi to abandon it.
If Wen Zhi hadn’t been sure at first, then after this little test, he could say for certain that Ghost’s mind wasn’t mature.
At its core, it was just a sensitive, fragile, pitiful, lonely child who was afraid of being abandoned.
And it seemed far too trusting and innocent.
Even though Wen Zhi still didn’t know everything about Ghost’s origins and background, his Teacher’s intuition told him his judgment was right.
His basic principles and moral duty as a Teacher… as well as the lessons someone had taught him, all meant that Wen Zhi couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
With Wen Zhi comforting it, the crying Ghost seemed to calm down a little.
It looked at Wen Zhi through its tears and uncertainly made a “Ding?” sound, as if asking, “Really?”
Looking at the little one who felt so unsafe, Wen Zhi suddenly felt as though he was back to doing his usual work as a Teacher.
He smiled wryly.
He reached out, instinctively wanting to ruffle Ghost’s head.
He hesitated, but in the end, he gently patted Ghost and said to the soul that had spent countless days and nights alone, yet still couldn’t get used to being by itself:
“I just got here, and I don’t know this place well, so I’m probably going to need you to stay with me for quite a while.”
Ghost received this answer.
It sounded like nothing more than a polite remark, but for some reason, Ghost felt it had received a promise that was enough to put it at ease.
Under Ghost’s gaze, the black-haired, black-eyed man looked gentle and kind.
Ghost felt a warmth unlike anything it had ever experienced from the elders in its life.
A strange feeling stirred inside Ghost.
After finishing what he’d said, Wen Zhi paused, then seemed to think of something.
His expression turned serious and focused.
“It may be a little late to say this now, but please allow me to introduce myself.”
“My name is Wen Zhi.”
“Wen as in words, Zhi as in an unshakable conviction.”
Words were abstract symbols, bridges that connected understanding, communication, and records.
An unshakable conviction was a powerful thought that was difficult to let go of.
That was how Ghost understood Wen Zhi’s name.
“I hope we’ll get along over the coming days.”
The man’s voice was gentle and soft.
Learning someone’s name was the beginning of forming a connection.
The wind stirred the leaves, letting a few beams of sunlight fall across the young man’s face and making his gentle smile look strikingly vivid.
That scene was burned into the deepest part of Ghost’s consciousness.
At that moment, Ghost was certain it would never be alone again.