Eldritch

I still feel a bit concerned, despite our talk.
I know, there's nothing I can do, but to think that this Anameri could replace my friend is terribly concerning.
Just why didn't my future self warn me about this?
Because it's not a big deal, or because there's nothing to be done about it?
I guess only time will tell.
For now, I'd still consider Chiaki to be Chiaki.

So, I guess I should focus on my other ventures.
Now that classes are over, there's one thing in particular.

"Brrrrr"

Oh, that's my phone.
Looking at it, it reads "cult leader".
Referring to the good Nanako.
Zika said something about them wanting to contact me today.

"Hello?" (I)

"Oh, it does really work! Oh my goddess, ehm, uh, I'm sorry to bother you, my dark lady." (N)

"Would you mind getting to the point?" (I)

"Ah, well, we couldn't quite get over our difficulties, regarding spreading rumors. You see..." (N)

"Is that her?! Can you tell her that the running boy was quite upset after the sports festival? Apparently he didn't manage his quota." (S)

His voice isn't right next to the phone, but I can hear Sora quite clearly nonetheless, as loud as he always speaks.

"Quiet, you insolent fool! The lady is not to be displeased!" (N)

"You're still using my phone." (Y)

"But only you were given her phone number, and for some reason, it turns into gibberish when others try to copy it." (J)

"Could you all please shut up? I can't understand our great goddess!" (N)

I feel like communication is going to proceed sub-optimally in this manner.

"Okay, discussing this over the phone doesn't work very well. Are you currently in an unsupervised location?" (I)

"Uh, we are in our clubroom if you mean that." (N)

"Fine. I'll be over." (I)

I turn around a corner and, after making sure that nobody is looking, I teleport.
To be precise, it would be more exact to say that I pull my body tentacle back through dimensions, which causes it to instantly deconstruct into protomass that directly gets sent through another portal, straight into a different location in the same dimension I just pulled it from.

The only condition for this is that I happen to have some form of foothold in this area, usually my miasma or some growth, if I want to have the slightest idea where I'd manifest.
Though it wouldn't be a total dealbreaker without, as my personal cheat powers allow me to "dream myself" freely into other realms.
Or in other words, through my critter control, my dreamer ability can be used to open portals wherever I want to.
It just lacks in the fine control department, so I should first pump a bit of miasma through the portal to get a scan of the unknown place, before the rest of me follows.

However, as my presence has already spread around the entire campus, the occultism clubroom is neatly within my reach.
Which allows me to manifest right there and not accidentally within one of these kiddos.

"Oh my god!" (Y)

And there I am.
Right in front of a slightly terrified group of wannabe cultists.

"She truly came!" (N)

"Didn't expect any less!" (S)

"Unfathomable." (J)

Yeah, I guess rearranging a growth I pressed into this dimension into a proper body is quite the display.

"Goddamnit! Couldn't you at least have given a warning before you give this horror shit show of a contagion break event?!" (Y)

In hindsight, it truly might've been a bit much.
My surveillance would have allowed me to confirm that the hallway is empty, and I could just have reappeared there.

"Stop being so insolent to our dark goddess!" (N)

"I'm as insolent as I want to be! Deal with it!" (Y)

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Right.
The one whose soul I crashed.

"Hi, Yoko. How about your personality flips?" (I)

"Not sure how to answer this. My switches got less extreme, but because they're closer to each other, they're getting far more frequent. I got like ten mood swings per hour. Which again is quite the downer for my overall mood." (Y)

"Ehm, sorry to hear that. I mean, at least it gets better, right? I wouldn't recommend going another time over your soul if it somewhat works out. I'm rather sure you're almost settled." (I)

"Yeah, well, I dread a bit the moment right before it settles. Ever tripped against a bottle and it doesn't quite tip over? To the end, they often make 'brrrrrrrrrb'. Well, that part got me a bit concerned, as I don't want my mind to make "brrrrrrb". Sounds like a prime event for a manic episode." (Y)

Uh, right.
That surely won't be pretty.

"I hope it won't be too bad. At least you seem coherent to me, if that helps." (I)

She certainly wasn't before the surgery.

"You know, at least one good thing came from this. If your personality changes on a daily basis, you get to look at yourself differently. The parts where I was seeing everything in a fluffy pink were creepy in hindsight from the outside perspective, but it got me to think. A part of me apparently wants to have a less gloomy outlook on the world. It's, well, I wouldn't call it a recommendable treatment against depression, but it feels like a part of me is gonna cling to a bit of whatever those pink lenses were. And maybe I'll allow it." (Y)

Awh, that's actually quite touching.
I certainly won't pat myself on the back for what I did to her, but it helps me to know that she found a way to cope with what happened to her in a somewhat positive manner.

"Nonetheless, I'm still quite sorry for what happened to you. Hopefully, I can make it up to you in the future." (I)

"Why can't it be me who got a favor to call upon?" (N)

Damn, I could seriously do without the reputation of being some wish-granting entity.

Anyway, I should get the whole situation back on track.

"Alright, I'm here. Now would anybody be so kind to tell me what the problem exactly is? And don't anyone dare to fall to their knees now instead of simply answering!" (I)

Back then, when I assigned them, I thought rumor duty would be just the right thing for this group.
It's occult enough to fancy their interests and not as wild as for them to be in grave danger.
Okay, half the ghosts have some kind of killing background, but I got some security measures going, one of them being possible revival, and at least it's keeping them occupied.
Yet now it seems like they're just stuck in their progress.

"Ahem, as we mentioned last time, we aren't quite popular enough to make others change their minds." (N)

"It's just our social standing combined with the nature of our club makes them doubt anything we're saying." (J)

One would think that being in the occultism club would actually boost credibility.

"Only Sora got a tiny bit of leverage since his above-average performance at the sports day. Yet, him being him, he's already well at demolishing what bit of cred he built up." (Y)

"Hey, just because I don't want to make good friends with all these assholes. All they do is talk shit about others the whole day. And some even believe it!" (S)

"You know what's that called, Sora? 'Spreading rumors'! You know, exactly the thing we need." (N)

Urgh.
I didn't want to make a deep dive into the social system of our school.

"So, in theory, Sora could actually get some students to believe in our new rumors?" (I)

Maybe not by much, but already a little change of mind would be helpful.

"Not quite. He's far too behind in their hierarchy. He'd be dismissed and ridiculed if he'd just try to push some made-up story. That is, without backing." (N)

"Backing?" (I)

What are they now going on about?

"If the ghosts would join in our story, we could show them first-hand evidence!" (S)

"Evidence?" (I)

"Yeah, we'd have them see the supernatural stuff first hand!" (S)

"What exactly are you planning?" (I)

I'm not exactly sure if I'm a fan of the direction this is all leading now.

"My dark lady, of course, we didn't just neglect our duties and wait for you to solve them. We, we got a bit of a strategy that was promising to yield the desired results. But we first wanted to inquire if you'd approve of our idea." (N)

Did I ever mention that Nanako's subservient attitude towards me is really striking me wrong?

"What is this idea?" (I)

"We thought that if we could get the popular kids in school a good scare of the more realistic kind. If the ghosts were to prove their existence personally to them, they would have no other choice but to believe. And as they are the popular ones and basically socialize more than enough, we could let them spread the story afterwards." (N)

While this might work, it sounds awfully hard, like a super risky plan, thought to brute-force the desired outcome.

"How did you even plan on getting them into position for the ghosts to scare them? We can't exactly summon them in front of the whole campus." (I)

"Not like someone didn't do something quite similar." (Y)

Excuse me?
Do I have to take that from my own cultists?

"Well, that's the easiest part. Money. We'll put our allowance in this to challenge them for a dare. Sora shouldn't face any trouble bringing it up if he comes from an angle where he tries to promote our club." (N)

"Your allowance? This might be the right moment to tell you that I'm not exactly made of cash." (I)

Even if they roll their eyes, that I can create almost anything doesn't mean I'm stocked up on any kind of exchangeable currency.
How much would even be necessary to convince popular kids?

"Sora is actually quite loaded, and we others are as well willing to blow some on this purpose. Just the idea that those jerks would receive their rightful retribution is more than tempting." (N)

"And you think this will get them?" (I)

"It certainly will if I apply a bit of my magic to make them more competitive. I don't get a ping that this would be bad, so it's fine, right?" (N)

Mind magic?
Since when was mind magic ever fair game?

"So I get this straight, you want to mind-magic fellow students into getting the probably worst scare of their lives? Do I have to elaborate why I'm not the biggest fan of that?" (I)

"Awh, come on!" (Y)

Yoko?

"What-" (I)

"Seriously, we outright martyred our heads to come up with something that would work! This does! If you don't like it, then do it yourself, but don't force us to do the impossible because you can't accept a single solution! If you'd want, you could mind-magic the whole school into believing, but you don't! Here we only make some bored kids take a dare they'd under other circumstances take every other day! That asshole Mato made Junichiro's life hell and the others hanging out with him aren't much better!" (Y)

Damn.
That was an outburst.
Now the others look as if I'd throw her in the abyss for her impudence.
But I get her.
If I had a better idea, I'd pursue it.
I don't, unfortunately.
In the end, saving the lives of countless students is weighing more than having to prank someone half-dead.

"Alright, I get it. But how do you intend to avoid that the ghosts kill anyone before their rumors are actually changed?" (I)

Why does Nanako look so guilty now?

"Well, you see, I fear you may not appreciate that part as much, my lady." (N)

.

.

.

Oh damn.

After long negotiations and strategizing, I am finally on my way home.
Which means I just port there.
I let the day pass by as usual and am then up to bed.
Or at least into bed meditation.
I really need some peace and quiet now, without having to deal with pushy people and annoying cultists.

"Oh, Great Iori, Mother of Nightmares, grant my wish!

What did I just say?!