How Rei became what he is today.
Like any ghost, Rei Sakusha was once a living human being. Rei was a gentle, kind and shy kid, but that fact didn’t treat him well at school. Being an odd one out his entire life, he was never bullied, but never loved either. He had few friends, who eventually left him behind as well. Everyone evaded him, for no apparent reason, as if he had never even existed. Rei started feeling unwanted in society, like a ghost among the living.
At some point in his life Rei discovered the beauty of storytelling. He began to spend more and more of his free time at the local library. He became a regular there, sometimes even staying overnight. Eventually the library became his new home. He felt at ease amongst the tall bookshelves, reading about worlds he would never live in, never see, but experience through words.
Over time the library became old and ran down. It didn’t get that many visitors anymore. When Rei was seventeen he had almost read every single book he could find in the library, except for one. He kept the best one for last, even though it was a struggle to keep himself from reading it. But tomorrow was the day, the day he would finally read the one book he had saved up for last. And then he would have to say goodbye to the place he grew up in, because the library would close in a few weeks.
When he arrived at the library that day, something was off. A small spark at the window caught Rei’s attention. He ran inside to find the back of the library already roaring in flames. ‘The book!’, he thought. Rei put it on a special shelf at the back of the library. He had to get it, he couldn’t live on without having read this one of a kind book. He dashed into the flaming walls of burning bookshelves. He found the book, still in good shape. ‘Thank God’, said Rei out loud. He grabbed the book as the fire began to close in all around him. He ran back towards the exit, trying to dodge the roaring flames. He stumbled over a piece of burning wood that had fallen from the ceiling. Rei fell on his chin. Dazed, he tried to get up, but it was too late. A burning bookshelf lost its balance, fell over and hit Rei. With both his legs stuck underneath the fallen bookshelf, he couldn’t move at all. He was unable to feel any pain. Not being able to free himself, he grasped his book and the only thing left to do was pray.
Rei became one with the library, in ashes.
Rei did not remember at what point he passed out, but after he awoke, the fire in the library was already put out. He got up, confused and dazed. The book he had been holding vanished without a trace. He desperately started digging around in the ashes and half burned books, to no success. It saddened Rei to his core, he would never be able to read it after all.
He looked around the library. The building itself was still standing, but most of the bookshelves all burned down. It was a disaster for Rei, like losing his entire family. Suddenly he realized he had no wounds whatsoever, he felt fine. It was when he saw his own burned body lying lifeless on the floor that he realized what had happened. Rei died, and became an actual ghost.
He tried running outside the library, but an invisible wall stopped him. Now stuck in his burned down library for eternity, he needed a new goal. Rebuilding it. He found out he was still able to interact with things in the library, its paper, pens and books that were saved from the fire. So he started rewriting every book he had read, starting with the first, in his quest to rebuild the library to its former glory, and to someday read the one book he had missed out on.
‘A few decades have passed now. The Library is slowly getting filled up again, but no one ever comes here. It’s a shame really. And no sign of that book either, it has to be somewhere out there, right? Anyways, I need a way to get people to come here. Spark the imaginations of people back into life, teach them the beauty of storytelling. Ha, well said, even if I do say so myself. It’ll be hard to get them to come here though, since I can’t leave this place… Then again, I don’t really want to leave here anyways. But there is the internet nowadays, it’s been a big help so far, a very revolutionary invention indeed. Anyway… VTubeing seems fun!’
– Sakusha Rei, Revenant of the Library.
Now, with more purpose in death than he ever had in life, Rei is truly happy, for the first time. But deep down inside his subconscious, something dark is lurking…
Since Becoming a VTuber, Rei was able to find his long lost book. But along the way, he discovered something even more precious. Who knew that book was now in the hands of someone else… someone it deemed worthy…
-The End-
Is that… a cat?
The old library used to have a serene, well kept garden. Right now it is an overgrown mess, you couldn’t even get through it to reach the other end of the garden. I’d love to get it back to its previous state… that is if I could leave the building. In its prime, you could find many species of trees, flowers and herbs. The shadows cast by those trees onto the dozen benches made for perfect reading spots during spring. It was the only place where I could appreciate spring- or summer time. I hated summer especially, the busy people going out on their many vacations, the sun burning in my eyes and on my skin, the general heat… not my thing. I’d rather just lie in bed and read a book, or in that library’s garden.
I remember one day, I sat on one of those benches, wrapped in a maple tree’s shadow. I was about halfway done reading a page in the book I happened to pick that day, when I saw something move in the corner of my eye. A small black shadow darting over the gravel path. I stopped reading to look at what it was and where it had gone. After a few moments of searching, I found the little critter in between some herbs.
“Is that… A cat?”
The small, frail kitten sat tucked away between the leaves, chewing on some shrubbery. It looked malnourished and its black fur was dirty and dusty. I reached out my hand, slowly so as to not startle it, but it spotted my attempt at closing the distance and hissed at me. Maybe when I eventually reached it and gave it some pets, it would see that I was not hostile. But as I got closer the kitten lashed out and scratched the palm of my hand. I gave up on approaching it, for now, and pulled back my arm.
Back inside the library, I asked the clerk about the kitten. She said there never were any animals in the library, as it could be hazardous to the books stored here. I figured the cat must be a stray then. Had it lost its mother? It would know how to return to its nest, right? Still, I felt like I needed to do at least something for it. So I asked the clerk if they had any sort of food I could give to the kitten. Sadly, it appeared there was nothing as such. When she spotted the wound on my hand, she offered me a band aid to treat the scratches, but I refused them. I’d get it treated at home.
The next day, I stopped by the closest convenience store to buy some cat food. I brought it with me to the library, hoping that the kitten would still be there. I walked out into the garden, softly shaking the bag of food. The second search for the kitten went faster, as I spotted it poking its head out of a nearby bush. Kneeling down I poured a healthy amount of food chunks into a little bowl. I left it standing on the path, and slowly backed off so the kitten wouldn’t be too scared to approach the food. I was delighted to see it chow down on it.
After a few weeks, the kitten had fully warmed up to me. I decided to give it a name; Percy, after a character I had read about in a book once. Percy would come when I called for it and let me pet it, but it was still a bit too early to pick him up, and it was also too shy to rest on my lap. From then on I kept taking care of the stray in secret. I’d brush its fur, clip its nails, I even gave it a bath from time to time. It was exciting to see Percy grow up.
A couple of months later, Percy had grown to be the size of an adult cat, and had become my best friend. I’d sit beside the window, inside the library’s reading corner with a book, while Percy lay snoring on my lap. At this point, the library manager had taken notice. After a bit of discussion, he allowed the cat to stay in the library, as long as I took care of it and it didn’t cause any trouble. Those were some of the most peaceful days I could remember.
For two years, our bond would only grow. Me and Percy were inseparable. Even when I left the library to go home, Percy would often stay outside and hide away, the manager told me. Percy was a nice cat, he didn’t cause trouble, except that one time he scratched a kid that tried to corner it in the gardens to pick it up. It still very much disliked being picked up. I managed to convince the manager Percy only did it in self defense, which, from Percy’s perspective, seemed very justified.
But that would also come to a tragic end.
I found the library in flames, and went inside the blazing building to secure that last book… and wasn’t aware that Percy was also inside. That damned bookshelf pinned me to the floor, and I saw Percy’s shadow darting through the flames, desperate to find a safe spot. Not only did I fail to save that book, I failed at taking care of Percy too. I had only installed that cat window a few weeks ago. If I hadn’t, Percy would still be in the gardens, and alive.
Now I have become this wretched thing, this shade of my former self, stuck in the place I would’ve much rather called home than my actual home. Alone. I was alone, to be reminded of my own failure for eternity. My material body, scorched on the floor was a clear reminder of that…
“Wait… Is that… A cat?”
I blinked a couple of times and narrowed my eyes. My mind wasn’t playing tricks on me. Right there, besides my own dead body, sat Percy, poking its paw on my head and licking my nose. But it wasn’t Percy, not the old one that I knew. This Percy had charred fur, bits of its skin missing and exposing some bone, and a ghostly glowing tail. Percy met the same fate as me, and became a ghost too. I floated up to it, and to my own surprise and relief, it recognised me. I could still pet it. I could still have a friend.
Ghost tears rolled over my cheeks as I stroked Percy’s head and back, unbothered by the frankly burned and rotting skin. In that moment, I didn’t want anything else. I tried to put some bandage over its wounds, but Percy would struggle against it and claw them off. In the end I stopped trying and just let it be. Percy looked happy, and so was I.
-The End-
Nice story!
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