"Yes, you understand, kids. Spiritualism is just a false name for the art created to control ghosts. So in this css, call it Necromancy."

  "Yes..."

  "Kids, would you like to learn Necromancy?"

  "..."

  "Answer?"

  "Yes, Professor, we want to learn."

  The kids, unable to resist the unspoken pressure, gave the answer the witch professor wanted.

  "Since you wanted so much, starting from today's free time, I'll specially teach you the basics of Necromancy that can ensve even the evilest spirits.

  Today we'll first learn how to make a simple curse essence that can make wandering spirits into your servants.

  If you make this curse essence well, you can lure evil spirits and make them consume it. Then the evil spirit becomes addicted to the curse liquid and will serve you forever. How about that? Isn't it amazing?

  And while you're at this school, you'll eventually learn how to make the ultimate essence that can extract and control human spirits."

  Rumi was scared by how talkative she was being about teaching such evil things.

  Then Raoul silently opened the first page of the Spiritualism textbook and showed it to Rumi.

  Rumi read the first page, which contained an introduction to Spiritualism.

  'Unlike exorcism rituals that drive away and cleanse ghosts, Spiritualism was developed for humans to utilize ghosts.

  Spiritualism provides humans with the valuable resource of ghost power and is used appropriately in numerous objects to greatly help humans.

  Additionally, it is both a technique and field of study that helps with exorcism by aiding understanding of ghosts.

  However, as much as it provides useful bor to humanity, Spiritualism is the most dangerous field among studies exploring souls and ghosts.

  This is because it fundamentally touches upon the bck magic used by the six witches and is essentially no different from bck magic, so students are urged to be careful in studying Spiritualism.'

  As soon as Rumi read the introduction, she seemed to understand what Professor Francesca was trying to do.

  She was saying she would openly teach the kids bck magic while avoiding the school's eyes.

  "So whether it's Spiritualism or Necromancy, it's all bck magic in the end?"

  Rumi asked Raoul to confirm.

  Raoul quietly nodded and pointed to the st part of the introduction.

  'Author, Emilia Mora.'

  "Mora? The person who wrote this textbook is also from Medina's family?"

  "Yeah, seems so."

  "Hmm..."

  Rumi had a feeling she might be able to get some quite useful clues from this css.

  Professor Francesca suddenly pulled out a dead rat by its tail from a drawer.

  She turned on the electric stove and pced a crucible on it.

  Then the witch professor immediately cut off the rat's tail and cws.

  "Take a rat that's been dead less than 3 days and cut off its tail and cws.

  Boil the cws in rotten water.

  Here you need to extract and collect the dead rat's blood and organs separately...

  And then put ugly beech bark juice and corpse flower powder in the crucible, wait a moment, then tear up a charm with spells written on it and put it in the crucible...

  Kids, if you can't remember what I'm doing now, you should write it down and memorize it. The curse liquid tastes incomparably worse than rotten water."

  "...!"

  Hearing they would have to drink that filthy curse liquid as punishment, all the kids started taking notes on the process of making curse essence.

  After going through numerous steps, Professor Francesca stirred the crucible while chanting the final spell.

  "Ghosts crave flesh, dolls yearn for souls, and humans desire death... Ghosts crave flesh, dolls yearn for souls, and humans desire death..."

  She truly embodied a witch.

  "Now, finally, I just need to add the master's blood and flesh, in this case it’s my blood and flesh, and it's complete, hahaha."

  Professor Francesca transferred the finished curse liquid to a small beaker.

  The reddish curse liquid looked toxic enough to cause instant death if drunk.

  Soon Professor Francesca poured a little curse liquid into the dead rat's mouth.

  Then amazingly, the rat with no organs started twitching.

  "Stop!"

  The witch teacher shouted at the twitching rat.

  The rat immediately became motionless again, as if dead.

  "Move!"

  But when told to move again, the rat twitched back to life.

  "Stop!"

  "Move!"

  "Stop!"

  Rumi watched the necromancy controlling the dead rat in a daze.

  Strangely, her heart was pounding.

  She thought maybe this Necromancy could become her favorite subject. Wouldn't it be amazing if you could use this on people!

  But then an incredible thought occurred to her.

  "Ah!"

  "Raoul...! I think Medina's aunt just told us what Medina wouldn't!"

  "What?"

  "That's it, the doll. It works by making it drink curse liquid!"

  Raoul also stared at the witch teacher for a while like Rumi.

  "Ah...! You're right! Why didn't we think of that?"

  "Hehehe, damn you Medina. I'll break that arrogant nose of yours."

  "Now then kids, shall we try making curse liquid in pairs?

  All the ingredients are in your desk drawers, so use them as you like.

  By the way, for dead rats, you can either catch ones wandering nearby or use ones caught in rat traps."

  "Pro-Professor? I don't think there will be enough rats for pairs..."

  Eve asked.

  "Then how about making curse liquid using the fingernails of whoever loses at rock-paper-scissors? We can also experiment if this curse liquid works on humans."

  "... ..."

  After the witch teacher's crazy words ended, all the kids rushed to search the dirty cssroom corners.

  Rumi also prowled around the cssroom like a wildcat and was the first to stab and kill a rat with a fork to start making curse liquid.

  And so Rumi and Raoul paired up and very carefully made rat curse liquid during css time.

  The dead rat could only stop and move, but the curse liquid seemed to work properly.

  So Rumi stole the remaining beaker of curse liquid and waited until evening.

  Rumi sat cross-legged in a chair with her hood up and head down.

  And shortly after, Medina entered Rumi's dormitory room.

  "Rumi, do you know what I saw today? You being helpless again because you still couldn't figure out what the doll is... huh?"

  Medina discovered Rumi emanating an unusually gloomy atmosphere.

  "What? Why are all the lights off?"

  That's when Rumi lifted her head to reveal an evil face.

  And like an passionate lover, she grabbed the doll by it’s nape and poured the curse liquid she had saved from css into the doll's mouth.

  "Gasp! Wh-what, how did you...?"

  Medina was shocked seeing this, and the doll started twitching slightly.

  Rumi showed another devilish smile to Medina.

  But then the red curse liquid started leaking straight out from the doll's pants area.

  "Eh? What?"

  Rumi quickly moved away as the liquid dripped.

  Seeing this, Medina started spinning three times in the air.

  "Hahahahaha. Of course, of course. Like that would work. It actually scared me for a moment."

  "...!"

  Rumi scrunched up her face as much as she could.

  "But... how did you guys figure out about the curse liquid?"

  "Your aunt told us everything."

  "What? Don't be ridiculous! Only I know about that doll. Only I know the curse liquid recipe. Not even my aunt knows anything!"

  "Ugh, come on, the situation is different now! You died because of the doll, and now you can't even use it anymore, so shouldn't you tell us how to use it?"

  "Does that make any sense? Who knows if one of you is the culprit!"

  "...!?"

  "What are you talking about? A culprit? among us?"

  "..."

  "Don't tell me... you're saying one of us is the culprit who killed you? What made you say something like that...?"

  At that moment, Raoul, Eve, Malcolm, and Niel, who had been hiding in the dark corners of the room, quietly looked at Medina.

  "I-I was just joking... why are you taking it so seriously..."

  "Medina, are you suspecting me?"

  Niel asked in a sad voice.

  "No! That's... I mean, because there's a human from a traitor family here..."

  "Are you talking about me...?"

  Eve spoke weakly with a pale face.

  Today Eve hadn't caught a rat and had to drink curse liquid as punishment, completely emptying her stomach after css.

  "Uh..."

  "Ah, I see...? You've been suspecting us this whole time?“

  Rumi said.

  "Well... isn't that natural? If you were me, wouldn't you be suspicious seeing your suspicious faces?"

  "What?"

  "Guys, stop fighting now. What's important right now is finding out what curse liquid to make and how to use that doll. Let's focus on that."

  Raoul stepped in to mediate the cold atmosphere.

  "So... that means, we have no choice but to pressure that damn Medina.

  Medina, now that everything's exposed, tell us the curse liquid recipe. I'll compromise so you can tell it only to me. You can’t be suspicious of me, right?"

  Rumi said with fshing eyes in a threatening tone.

  "Sigh... even if I wanted to tell you, I can't. I don't have that recipe right now."

  "Ah, enough! Do you really want me to turn you into a evil spirit?"

  Rumi couldn't suppress her rising anger and spoke in a cold voice.

  Medina looked around slightly flustered.

  "No... it's not that I won't tell you... You become a ghost, Such complicated things are hard to remember.

  It feels like my amnesia is getting worse.

  What I had was made by grandmother... even grandmother didn't know the recipe fully so I tried making it myself..."

  "Wait, didn't the teachers take the liquid you had? Does that mean we have to steal it from the teachers again?"

  "No, we don't need to. I have some samples, and the recipe at home with all the ingredients."

  "Hey, if the recipe was that important, you should have carried it with you."

  "Then they would have taken the recipe too. Just carrying the doll was dangerous enough, carrying the curse liquid recipe too would have been game over."

  "Huh? Wait, that means, you knew someone was after your doll?"

  "You... why are you asking such sharp questions today... wait, why am I telling you this?"

  Rumi tightly shut her eyes and repeated to herself, 'I must endure.‘

  "If you're not going to talk anyway, you should just shut up and not make us more curious, Medina."

  "Hahaha... that wasn't my intention... I-I said I would tell you. Anyway, what I'm saying is there's an incomplete curse liquid recipe and sample left at home."

  "But Medina, you're a ghost - can't you go home and memorize the recipe?"

  Raoul asked.

  "You think I haven't tried that? I already tried going home but I seem to be bound to the school somehow. Like a stupid earthbound spirit."

  "That's strange..."

  "Then to get the recipe, someone has to go to your house physically?"

  "That's right..."

  At that moment, Eve, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.

  "You're not completely earthbound though, right?"

  "Of course not, there wasn't a bounding ritual... but why?"

  "Do you know your soul... is getting dimmer?"

  "Wh-what are you talking about? Don't you know ghosts are naturally semi transparent?"

  "No, I mean it's getting dimmer. The color is strange too. And you said your memory is getting worse too, right?"

  Hearing Eve's words, Rumi noticed she really did seem a bit more transparent.

  "Oh, you really do look hazier. And you definitely seem to have gotten dumber."

  Rumi said quite seriously.

  "So what? What are you trying to say?"

  Medina reacted particurly sensitively to Eve.

  "Are you pnning to become an evil spirit like this? Don't you want to possess something?"

  "What are you talking about? Why would I possess anything?"

  "Right now you're not properly attached to the school like an earthbound spirit, and you're not possessing anything either. If you stay like this, you'll lose your sense of self and become a wandering evil spirit within a year..."

  "Do... do you think I'm doing this because I don't know that?"

  "I did think you didn't know."

  Eve said indifferently.

  "How was I supposed to know I'd be cursed and become a ghost! And I don't know if you remember, but whoever it is is targeting you too? You'll eventually die from a curse too, ptooey ptooey."

  Medina reacted with unusual agitation.

  "Medina, calm down. Eve seems to be saying this because she's worried about you..."

  Niel watched the two with concern and spoke timidly.

  "Niel, why are you ruining the fun of watching a fight?"

  When Rumi commented, Eve sighed and gred at her.

  "What I’m trying to say is your soul needs to settle somewhere. And I think I have one way..."

  "What? What way?"

  Rumi listened curiously.

  "Since we're going to your house anyway, we can properly seal your soul into your belongings there."