Steve watched closely as the thin red-headed girl before him cleaned his injured knee. She gently scrubbed the wound with a gauze square lathered with pink soap before pulling another from her first-aid kit to dab the excess liquid from his skin. It stung a little, but he managed to relax on the foreign bed of his new dormitory room while she worked, her bare knees flushed red as she knelt on the carpet.

“And then…” the girl trailed off. She tossed the used gauze and rummaged through her kit, finally finding a small ointment jar tucked away in a side pocket. Jar in hand, she looked up at Steve with her big brown eyes and puffy cheeks adorned with a forest of freckles. “You guys got attacked?”

“Yes, Sarah, you wouldn’t believe it. They were crazy.” Steve relaxed his leg a little more to accept Sarah’s treatment. “This one guy had a bat, and that dog was ready to chew my leg off.” Steve cringed at the traumatic memory. The ghost of strong hands still clutched at his shoulders, and the pain in his knees from the rough cement was still fresh. It worsened when Sarah began to apply the ointment, gently massaging it into the wound with gloved hands.

“But thankfully, this Roy guy saved us,” he spoke to occupy his mind, trying not to bite his tongue. “He beat two of them unconscious before the other two ran off. I wish he would’ve beat them, too.” Sarah nodded as she worked but was otherwise silent.

“They shouldn’t wander the streets after this. I mean, Mattiaz kind of provoked them but—” Steve stopped, realizing if he said what he meant to, he’d regret it later. “No, that’s not fair. He didn’t know what was happening…”

“Say, Steve…” Sarah said as she disposed of her materials. “Are you sure you don’t need medical care? You look like you’re still in shock. I’m not a doctor, so...”

“It’s fine, Sarah. Thanks for the help.” Steve grinned, more than satisfied with her treatment. It would have been humiliating if he asked the nurse to treat him after assuring her that he didn’t need help.

Unlike Steve, Mattiaz was badly injured; according to the nurse, he had suffered a concussion. Thankfully, she had used spirit magic—at least, that’s how Steve understood it—to heal his minor injuries.

Despite her abilities, she couldn’t heal Mattiaz’s concussion completely, but she assured Steve that he would be fine if he rested until morning. She entrusted Mattiaz’s care to his roommate and let Steve go.

“It’s nice to see that not all spiriters are crazy.” He aimed the comment at Sarah, but then added, “Even Roy freaked me out. Though, technically, he saved us.”

Sarah shook her head at the strange compliment, barely able to keep a straight face. “Seeing you stumbling around the dormitory like that… I was just worried about you. That’s all.” She tightened her pigtails and applied a thin bandage around Steve’s scraped knee.

“It’s actually not that bad. I got a little bruised and my stomach hurts, but no biggie.” He waved his hand in embarrassment. “And this? This isn’t even from the fight.” He pointed to his knee, earning a questioning brow raise from Sarah.

“I went for a walk, then stumbled over my feet and scraped my knee like an idiot.” He laughed at the failure, wishing it were a joke. “It would be less lame if I got injured during the beating. Now it turns out I’m a bigger danger to myself than a scary group of gangsters.”

Steve let out a wholehearted laugh and Sarah couldn’t help but join in. Steve already liked her; she didn’t judge him for being, in his words, an awkward loser. Unlike the manic spiriters he expected to meet, she came across as an ordinary girl.

“So, you’re also new here?” he asked once Sarah’s laughter died down. She kept on smiling, her plump cheeks in stark contrast to her beanpole figure. Based on appearances, he never would have guessed she was a spiriter. Steve had always imagined spiriters to be large, muscular people with intimidating scowls on their faces. That description hardly fit Sarah or Mattiaz, but it matched Roy perfectly.

Steve shivered, remembering Roy’s towering figure and piercing gaze. It was no wonder the other two gangsters fled the scene when he showed up. Even though Roy was on his side, Steve had still wanted to run for his life.

“Yup!” Sarah said, pulling him from his memory. “But I’m not new to patching up scrapes like this.” She tightened the bandage one last time, securing the covering to itself as she smoothed it over. “You’re lucky I have three trouble-making brothers back home who get injured all the time.”

Steve beamed down at her as he stretched his newly bandaged knee. “It looks perfect! I already feel better. Thanks, doctor!” Sarah didn't respond, turning away to hide the blush that graced her cheeks.

A sudden draft blew through the room, grabbing Steve's attention. It came from the dorm room window—the window that was supposed to be closed.

Was the window open this whole time? Who opened it?

Steve, in a surprised daze, failed to notice the blush forming on Sarah’s plump cheeks from his little compliment. Instead, he faced the open window, watching as the curtains flapped gently in the breeze.

“Sarah? Did you open the window?” he asked, anxiety creeping across his skin. Sarah looked over, confusion apparent on her face.

“No… Maybe you left it open when you went for a walk?”

“No.” Steve gulped, his paranoia surging. “I always close my window. You know, when I was a kid, this ghost haunted my window and—”

Something moved just beyond the curtains. They were certain of it. But they were on the second floor, and it should have been impossible for someone to be lurking outside the window.

“Did you hear that?” Steve asked, teeth rattling.

“I did. What was it?” Sarah slowly backtracked from the window, keeping her eyes glued to the frame.

Another sound. Louder this time. They yelped, bodies glued together in fear.

Steve’s stomach folded into knots at the prospect of going anywhere near the window, but he had to. He approached the window with wary steps, shaking hands held out to protect himself from danger. Sarah lurked behind, using him as a shield.

He halted inches from the window, stretching to grab the curtain as it swung in the breeze. He glanced one last time at Sarah, her pupils wide with fear. She encouraged him with a steadfast nod. Steve gulped and flung the curtain back, revealing a face staring at them mere inches away.

Both screamed so loud, the whole campus had to hear. They backtracked, one falling over the other in panic, scaring the fellow on the roof just as much. Soon after, there was a string of nasty curses spewed by the person as he tumbled from the overhang and a loud bang from outside. It happened so fast, both Steve and Sarah had to stop to think what just happened. Their eyes were fixed on the sudden emptiness outside the window, questions hanging heavy in the tense atmosphere. The silence in the air was deafening.

“W-was that a person? Di-did we kill him?” Steve asked, biting on his lip. He felt bad for screaming so loud, but what was the stranger doing on the rooftop to begin with?

“Are we murderers?” Sarah wondered aloud, biting her bottom lip to keep it from quivering.

“How dare you interrupt me!”

They screamed in unison again as that same stranger returned to the window in a sudden flash. Their jaws dropped when they realized he was flying high above the roof tiles, fire blazing violently from the soles of his boots.

“Stop screaming, you bozos! I’m trying to concentrate!” The fire went out as he placed his feet firmly back onto the overhang, regarding them both with a frown. His wide nose flared in anger, but the green hair sprouting from the top of his head made the expression a little less threatening.

“D-Did you just… f-fly up here?” Steve asked, voice shaking. He braced himself on the carpet, panting as if he’d just run a marathon.

The green-haired teenager scoffed, glaring down at Steve through the window. He crossed his arms over his dark blue overalls and said, “It’s called a jet. Humans like you wouldn’t understand.”

“Jet?” Sarah asked.

“Humans?” Steve added.

Sarah collected herself enough to ask another question, “What do you mean, humans? We’re spiriters too!” She sat up a little straighter, her tone defensive.

“I’m not like you, though,” he answered with a smug tilt of his chin.

“Huh?” Steve and Sarah exclaimed in unison.

“What are you then?” Sarah asked, rising to her feet. “This is a school for spirit use—” The loud bang of the window slamming shut cut her off. She took a cautious step back, wary eyes glued to the flimsy plane of glass that almost broke from the force. What in the world just happened?

“Gosh, what a weirdo,” Sarah complained, closing the curtains to stop him from peeking. It was then that she noticed something strange. The boy’s body had been surrounded by a green aura, eyes shining the same shade of green when he flew up towards them. But now, with the window closed and curtains covered, she could still clearly see the outline straight through the thick fabric. Not the boy, only the green outline.

Frozen momentarily, she watched as the green outline slowly faded away. Once it was gone, she thought the boy may have left too. She uncovered the curtain just enough to peek outside only to see him still lounging there, looking far across the campus. The boy then looked back, noticing Sarah’s peeking, and showed her the middle finger.

Frustrated, Sarah closed the curtain for good. “What is wrong with him?” she mumbled under her nose. Turning to Steve, she found him stiffly sitting on the floor.

“Did you also see that green outline? That was weird, right?”

Steve looked at her with wide eyes. “What green outline?”

It was Sarah’s turn to gawk at him. Could it have been her imagination? It seemed so real in the moment though. “Nevermind, sorry…” She was probably just getting tired and seeing things.