Bet

"Mr. Eric, if I can prove Jay is innocent, can you stop exorcizing Jay?!" I asked.

"Are you serious? Ghosts can basically do anything, it is impossible to prove whether a ghost is innocent or not!"

"I'm serious! If I fail to prove it, I won't stop you from exorcizing Jay anymore. But please, Mr. Eric! Give me a chance! I don't want to have any regrets!" I begged him. Watching me, Mr. Eric didn't know what to do.

"Sigh......well, I won't lose anything even if I heard what you are going to say."

"Wait.....does this mean you....?"

"Yes. I'll take your bet. I can't convince you to get out of there anyway. If you think you can surprise me, why don't you give it a try?"

"Thanks......but before I start, I want to know some more information first. Can I ask you some questions?"

"Sure. What do you want to ask?"

"Mr. Eric, you said there is a girl being attacked. When did it happen?"

"Hmm.....around half past four, I think. Before I saw the girl being attacked, I got a phone call, let me check the-----"

"Wait! You saw the girl being attacked?!!" Alfie cried out anxiously.

"Yes. What's wrong?"

"If you saw the girl, you should see the ghost too, then why do you need to attack Jay?!" I shouted. Mr. Eric tried to explain.

"I didn't see the ghost's true form, the ghost was hiding when he attacked the girl. It is not necessary for ghosts to show up when they attack people, they can hide in the dark and have long range attacks. I just saw the girl attacked by a number of black hands."

"Jay doesn't use black hands to attack people, he uses a sword!"

"The condition of ghosts is always very unstable. They can change their appearances, attack forms or suddenly become stronger or weaker. They are smart too, some even hide their true ability to escape from the eyes of ghost sweepers. You can't prove a ghost is innocent by its powers." He argued.

"I see. Sorry, I was a bit emotional." I apologized. Feeling a bit disappointed, Mr. Eric tried to comfort me.

"Never mind." He took out his phone and showed me the screen and continued, "Here's the time of the phone call, it's 4:32 p.m. Is there anything else you want to ask?"

"If the ghost is hiding when attacking the girl, how far can the ghost hide?"

"I guess the ghost needs to stay at school, the ghost can't be outside school at that time. If the ghost stays too far, his power will weaken and be harder to control."

"Which means the ghost can't be outside school at that time......." I mumbled softly. I remained quiet and scrambled myself in my memories to find more clues. While I was thinking, Mr. Eric started to get impatient and began to tap his fingers. He tried to remind himself to be patient but his face betrayed him.

"Come on, Alfie. I told you there isn't a way to prove whether a ghost is innocent or not. Why don't you just-------"

"Mr. Eric, you came from a ghost sweeper organization called ESH, right?" I interrupted him.

"!!!" Mr. Eric's eyes went wide, he was shocked when he heard the words 'ESH' from my mouth.

"Wow, I'm surprised you know about the ESH. How do you know it?"

"Err.....I have my own ways...."

On Mr. Eric's name card, it says 'ESH Newspaper Office'. I remember I read that same kind of initials on a website called 'Ghost Hunting', there is an account user called ESH Ghost Professor who explains stuff about ghosts. They are both related to ghosts and have the same initials. So I predict Mr. Eric and that Ghost Professor came from the same organization called ESH.

Of course, I can explain this to Mr. Eric, but now is not the right time to talk about it.

On the other hand, Mr. Eric was amazed that I knew the ESH and started to observe me, replying.

"You're right about me. I came from a special ghost sweeper organization called the Exorcism Shrine of Heart, in short, the ESH. I was sent by the organization to handle this school case."

"Do the people in the organization share information about ghosts?" I asked.

"Yes. In order to handle all sorts of ghosts, we will share information to increase the possibility of exorcising them."

"I see. I think that's enough. Thanks." I said smiling.

"Are you sure? You only ask a few questions. I don't think you can figure out anything by that. Are you giving up?"

"Of course not! I stop asking questions because I have already found a way to prove Jay is innocent!"

"And I will prove it to you now!" I determined. Hearing me, Jay saw Mr. Eric's surprised face, he found it amusing and grinned brightly. I ignored both of them and started my deduction.

"To start with, Mr. Eric, do you know I'm absent today?"

"Yes, I know. I went to your classroom and you are not there in the morning."

"Yes. Today, I was sick and I didn't go to school. But I went out with Jay in the afternoon to go to a pearl milk tea shop. There, I brought a cup of drink and had a receipt here in my pocket." I took out a piece of paper and gave it to Mr. Eric.

"On the receipt, it shows the time of when I brought the drink which is 4:29:22 in the afternoon. While the time of the girl being attacked is 4:32. It is impossible to travel from the shop to school within 3 minutes."

"Are you telling me that you and Jay were at the shop at that period of time? So it is impossible for Jay to be at school?"

"Yes."

"You're wrong then! That receipt only shows you are in that shop and not Jay! Jay can be in the school while you are in the shop! Your alibi doesn't work!"

"But it does." I insisted.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Mr. Eric, are you familiar with the ghost's abilities and limitations?"

"I don't know all but I know most of it."

"Then do you know that ghosts cannot leave their host too far away? A ghost and his host must stay at a limited distance. If the ghost is too far away from its host, the ghost will feel tired or even disappear." I took out my phone on the other side of my pockets and clicked on it and showed Mr. Eric the screen.

"Look at this map! The actual distance between my school and the pearl milk tea shop has greatly exceeded the limited distance! If Jay was at school at that time and I was at the shop, Jay would have disappeared. It is impossible for him to attack the girl. Jay can't be at school! His alibi exists!"

"....What? Wait, how did you know ghosts cannot leave their-----"

"I know that from a website called 'Ghost Hunting', there is a person called 'ESH Ghost Professor' who put that information on the website. I suppose that person is your colleague?"

"Err...."

"It is ok if you don't want to answer. Didn't you just tell me you came from an organization called ESH? I don't suppose you forgot already, do you?" I questioned. Mr. Eric scratched his head, moving it forward and backwards. He wanted to argue against me but nothing came to his mind. I had already blocked all his answers.