“How so?”
He poked his phone for a few seconds, then lifted it with a hopeful smile. “I never fully introduced myself, did I? This is my channel.”
Channels, filming, phones, subscribers... What kind of nonsense were humans always talking about?
“What am I looking at?” I asked, squinting at the screen. There was text, numbers and blocks of color, but it meant nothing to me—until I saw Mel's face in some of the pictures. “Ah. This is you!”
Mel brightened. “Yeah! My face is in some of the thumbnails, but I usually try to keep it focused on the paranormal. I get more hits that way.”
A rush of anger made my wispy blue aura flare up like a fire.
“Who's hitting you?” I demanded.
“N-no, not like that,” Mel said hurriedly. “Hits are like, um, views on your videos.”
“Oh.” My wisps calmed down. I crossed my arms. “They shouldn't give it such a misleading name.”
Mel smiled. “You got pretty mad, huh?”
I faced him seriously. “I'd never let anybody lay a finger on you.”
Mel's sparkling eyes went wide as plates. He blushed. “R-really?”
Gods, how badly I wanted to wrap my arms around him right now. I'd never regretted my existence as a phantasm until I met Mel. I craved his touch.
Fate was truly cruel.
“A-anyway,” Mel said, his cheeks pink as he lowered his face. “If you want more people to know about you, I can feature you on my channel. If you're okay with it, of course.”
“Your channel... I assume that's where people watch your videos?”
“That's right,” Mel said brightly.
I stroked my chin. “That might work. But how do you know people will be able to see me? Not everyone can.”
“We don't know.” Mel shrugged. “It's worth a shot, right? I don't want you to be lonely forever.”
Mel's words tugged at my heartstrings. Nobody else had ever cared as much as him, and I'd only known him for a couple of hours.
Feeling empowered by Mel's suggestion, I spun around in the air. “Well, then! If it's a phantasm they want, it's a phantasm they'll get! And you say these people will become my friends?”
Mel scratched the back of his head. “Actually, they won't be able to interact with you directly. They can only leave comments or like the video.”
“But you spoke to them earlier,” I pointed out.
“Er.. It's hard to explain. I was talking to an audience, not a group of friends.” He made a sheepish expression. “I honestly don't have many friends, either.”
That shocked me. “But you're so likeable.”
Mel blushed, trying not to smile. “You think so?”
“I don't think, Iknow. I knew it as soon as I laid eyes on you.”
He laughed. “That's why you trapped me here, right?”
Once again, he didn't seem worried at all, which was odd compared to Bert. If I'd done that to him, he would've mildly scolded me and unlocked the gate with his key. I liked spending time with my friend, but I much preferred Mel's company.
“You're aware that you can leave at any time, yes?” I said, just to make sure he knew.
