How To Survive A Cute Ghost Yandere
Chapter 16: Cayena Clair

Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Cayena Clair

Eiros froze solid.

A nervous smile crept onto his face as he forced his expression into something composed. He glanced down at Erness, her face buried against his back, though she peeked upward just enough to catch his eyes staring right at her.

"...I heard you’ve been busy lately."

Without letting go of the embrace, Erness pulled him even tighter, as if afraid of losing him, then let out a small, adorable laugh.

"Yeah, I just got back from Cordelia, so I couldn’t check on you after our kiss. It’s kind of a shame, honestly."

The memory of that day made Eiros shudder. Between everything he’d had going on lately, he’d genuinely gotten busy enough to almost forget that Erness was the single greatest source of terror in his life.

Of course, unlike what Eiros had imagined, he was surprised at himself for managing to respond far more calmly than he’d expected.

Erness’s grip loosened before finally letting go entirely. Eiros let out a relieved breath, turning to face the girl, who still wore that same sweet smile.

Her appearance never once fell short of stunning—it always looked fresh somehow, no matter how many times he saw her. Soft silver hair flowing long down her back, pale white pupils curving into perfect crescents, her cheeks always tinted a warm pink whenever she smiled.

Then there was that scent of hers, always refreshing, always cool. So captivating that Eiros sometimes thought he’d end up dead in an instant if he ever let his guard down around it.

With both hands clasped behind her back, and the wind sweeping through, sending her pale hair flying wildly, that alone was enough to draw every eye nearby straight toward them.

Plenty of students from the neighboring classes were already glancing over at Erness, swallowing hard, their faces flushed with a slightly ridiculous expression.

"...By the way, is it really okay for you to be here?"

"Why...? Don’t want to see your gorgeous girlfriend?"

"The hunt’s about to start, isn’t it... Shouldn’t you be forming your own team by now? I’d think that matters a fair bit for getting good results, doesn’t it?"

"Hm..."

Erness pursed her lips. Her thoughtful expression looked absolutely adorable.

"Well, it’s fine. This is just the final evaluation before the first-semester exams anyway. I don’t really need a professor’s guidance—I can handle myself just fine."

Eiros tilted his head slightly.

’What’s that supposed to mean?’

That was when he remembered again that Erness’s real identity, at her core, wasn’t human at all. She was a ghost from the Spirit World.

Which meant Erness must have had her own reason for coming to the human world and enrolling at this academy. Eiros had no idea what that reason was, but his gut told him it had to matter quite a bit, tied closely to the plot of the original webtoon.

"What about you?" Erness asked back. "Since you still haven’t... awakened your Stigmata yet, you should have the freedom to do whatever you want, right?"

Hearing that, Eiros went quiet for a moment. He noticed a slight hesitation in Erness’s own words about him not having awakened his Stigmata yet, but he let it slide.

Just as Erness had said, students from the Other class wouldn’t be joining the hunt, since there wasn’t much use for them there. Even so, they were given the freedom to tag along with whichever group they liked.

The point of it was simple—to watch how students with actual Stigmata fought and used their abilities in action. All of it aimed at deepening their own comprehension, moving them closer to activating their own.

"How about you just come with me instead? Wouldn’t be so bad going on a date in the forest, right? Hehe."

Eiros shook his head immediately, a nervous smile on his face. Cold sweat crawled down his back.

"...Sorry, but you know how it is, right? I think I’ll head over to whichever group can actually help me."

"...."

Erness didn’t need to say a word, but Eiros already knew that wasn’t a good reaction, given how her lips had pulled into a pout.

He was about to say something when he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Fast, steady, with a slight edge of urgency.

Curious, Eiros turned toward the sound. He found a girl staring at him with a smirk spreading across her face.

’Oh.’

Eiros blinked.

Then—

The girl raised her hand, placed it against Eiros’s forehead with perfect precision and speed, and flicked it.

"Guh?!"

A sharp, burning sting spread across his forehead. Eiros stumbled back a few steps, his eyes screwed shut. Reflexively, he pressed a hand to the spot, wincing.

Before he could get a single word out, he heard the girl’s voice.

"Look at this. Someone gets a girlfriend and suddenly gets too full of himself to come visit his own big sister."

Of course.

The girl standing in front of him, who shared a striking resemblance with Eiros—long black hair paired with pale blue pupils—was actually Eiros’s older sister, one year his senior.

Cayena Clair.

’...What the hell was that?’

Eiros rubbed the spot where he’d been flicked. He had no idea where that kind of force had even come from—how could a simple flick hurt this much?

"Hmph... I don’t get it. Your girlfriend’s really gorgeous, sure." Cayena’s gaze drifted to Erness, looking somewhat puzzled. "But what exactly do you see in this scumbag? You must’ve seen him at least once before, hitting on every pretty girl he lays eyes on."

Hearing that, Erness blinked briefly, then held onto her sweet smile, laughing softly.

"Well, I think Eiros is pretty good for me? He hasn’t tried hitting on other girls since. He only focuses on me now. Actually, for my sake, he even once tried to die by drinking poison."

That last line made Eiros shudder in horror. He shot Erness a sharp look.

’What is this ghost even saying?’

He definitely didn’t remember ever saying anything like that. Wasn’t the truth actually the opposite—that he’d been forced to drink poison through that kiss?

But there was nothing Eiros could say when Erness glanced over at him with that smile still on her face.

"Right?"

"...Yeah."

Eiros answered, utterly powerless to do otherwise.

Meanwhile, Cayena took it as a joke and let out a small laugh.

"What the hell...? You actually did something like that?"

"....."

"You actually fell in love for real? Oh, hell no, this must be the end times."

"...Can we please just get to the point?" Eiros couldn’t stay calm anymore—having his own sister constantly mock him with one thing after another, on top of an adorable murderer toying with him at will, how was he supposed to feel comfortable through any of that?

"Why are you here?" Eiros asked, cutting straight to it.

"Come on, I already told you, I’m asking why you never come see me anymore."

"...You know the first-semester exams are right around the corner, right? How am I supposed to just wander around? I need to figure out my Stigmata as soon as possible."

"Well, that makes sense. I figured you only knew how to have fun, since that’s all you ever did the last time I actually saw you."

Eiros let out a rough sigh.

"So you’re not busy, then?"

"Of course I’m busy. I’m the vice president of the student council, you know."

"Then why are you here?"

"Why not? I wanted to see what kind of trouble my little brother’s gotten himself into now. What’s wrong with that?"

Well, even though the real Eiros’s diary had mentioned that his sister, Cayena, had an energetic, chatty personality, he never expected it to be quite this bad.

Especially since every word out of her mouth seemed designed purely to get under his skin.

Cayena apparently had quite the talent for rage-baiting. But, worth noting, Eiros wasn’t going to fall for it easily.

He’d fought plenty of rage-baiters on social media back in his day, so something this mild might irritate him a little, but it wasn’t going to actually get him worked up.

Right after that, an announcement rang out from one of the professors, calling for all students to regroup back into their lines.

Cayena said her goodbyes and headed off quickly. As vice president of the student council, his sister had plenty of duties, playing her part in organizing this whole event.

Erness did the same. After saying her goodbye, she walked a few steps away, then stopped.

The girl turned back, staring at Eiros in silence.

".....?"

Then, she closed the distance again, wrapping him in a tight embrace. Her scent hit him clearly, the curves of her front—especially those two particular mountains—pressing neatly against Eiros’s chest. And, most notably of all, Erness’s body temperature felt genuinely, abnormally cold.

"See you again later, okay?"

That caught him off guard, making him flinch. As his body went rigid, Erness let go of the embrace, then turned and walked away, a sweet smile on her face, waving over her shoulder.

’What was that?’

Eiros let out a hollow laugh.

He genuinely didn’t understand anymore.

"Bastard. Die. Just die already. Why don’t you just die. Damn it. Damn it. Fucking bastard. Fuck."

"...."

A voice sounded beside him—it was Leiden, glaring at him while gnawing on his own fingernails, his skin looking almost darkened all over, his face grim and pale.

’Is he really this desperate just because he doesn’t have a girlfriend?’

Eiros genuinely wished they could switch places.

This guy would probably enjoy it, even if it meant dying for it.

***