Stranger Things: My Shadow's Smiling At Me But Am Not

To Jidenna, the day went by like a blur, from navigating to his class with a crowd of people like him to sitting through his first class, barely registering some words with the bubbly but hushed conversations of his coursemates.

Before he realized it, the lecturer on the stage slammed his textbook on the podium twice, signaling the end of the lecture.

The day was gone, welcoming the night.

Jidenna thronged through the corridor and up the flight of stairs, his shoulders slouched in exhaustion, ignoring the glances he received, as though he were an extinct species, on his way in.

His hand hovered over the door handle.

'Click,' the door opened.

Jidenna raised an eyebrow in surprise but was too tired to pursue it, so he left it behind.

He dragged his feet straight to his room and onto his bed.

Only the ticking of the clock accompanied him, along with his random thoughts that were all over the place.

Too exhausted to lift his fingers, he drifted off to sleep.

By the time Jidenna woke up, it was dark outside the window, and the bright moon was shining down from the sky.

Jidenna changed out of his clothes, planning to go to the kitchen to whip up something. He walked to the full-length mirror installed by the school in his room.

But what he saw caused his footsteps to come to a halt. He tilted his head, but his reflection in the mirror was still standing straight, smiling at him.

Jidenna's heart skipped a beat.

'Perhaps I am still sleeping?' He blinked. When he opened his eyes, like an illusion, the figure in the mirror mirrored his.

Feeling relieved, he walked to the door but still looked back to check the window.

Jidenna almost stumbled on air when he saw his figure still in the mirror.

Then it walked away. A chill went down Jidenna's spine, and in panic, he bolted out of the room to the kitchen, only stopping when he had slammed the door shut. Leaning against it, his chest went up and down.

Jidenna wasn't so stupid as to go back and check again. Wasn't that how cannon fodders in horror movies died?

Inwardly, he decided, 'I can't sleep in that room today. I'll sleep on the couch in the parlor.'

Inside the other room, Li Wei smirked when he received the notification:

[Ding! You have siphoned +5 luck from your roommate.]

'You're only this much,' he scoffed in disdain.

'But after everything, I only got a little luck,' tsk tsk, he clicked his tongue, feeling dissatisfied. 'He's indeed stingy.'

Then he beamed before wincing again. 'It doesn't matter. I'll do everything to make sure I complete the task.'

His mind flashed back to the task content: [Siphon 50% of your roommate's luck in one month.]

Feeling envious again, he sighed, thinking, 'Sure enough, some people were only created to be foils against others. Such a large reservoir of luck. Mine is only 1/50th of his, even after all the luck I've absorbed.'

Li Wei's hands trembled in excitement, calculating how big his luck would become once he siphoned Jidenna's luck.

"Ouch," he grimaced, forgetting his bruise in his excitement. He shifted, laying on the bed for proper sleep.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Jidenna was in a tight place.

He had decided to make something fast that would hold him for a while. He chose noodles.

But that's when it began.

It started some minutes back.

Jidenna turned on the gas when he heard something. He paused, but everywhere was quiet.

Shrugging it off, he continued, putting his pan with water on the gas.

'Clank.'

Then he heard it again. This time it was much clearer.

He scanned his environment, but nothing was out of place from what he could see.

Jidenna felt a bit pensive but still decided to continue what he was doing. But when he heard it a third time, he could no longer ignore it.

As it is said: one is a mistake, twice is a coincidence, but thrice is a certainty.

He whirled around but saw nothing like the first two times. The only thing that was different was the stool in the kitchen. Its position was off.

His brows furrowed, wondering if someone had been there before. He paused, shaking his head. He knew better than anyone that no one was there.

Against his best judgment, Jidenna decided he must stay and cook this food. He declared outwardly, "Nothing will stop me from eating this food, even though you are a spirit."

Not knowing his words were heard by the invisible system, which didn't dare get too close but still decided to wear Jidenna's mental strength and health down.

That was their mini grand plan.

Since Jidenna did not seem perturbed by the isolation and neglect they staged against him, they would attack from the inside.

Normally, when people receive cold violence, they shrink, and their vigilance against "luck-sucking" attacks would wane.

But to their surprise, it did not work on Jidenna. So they would make it look like he was crazy.

Both the system and its host imagined the beautiful scene.

Jidenna heard a crashing sound in the morning when he woke up and knocking in the night. But when he asked Li Wei, he would deny hearing anything.

Over time, Jidenna would believe that he was hearing and seeing things, but he would not seek counseling because of his unfamiliarity with the university.

Instead, he would bottle everything up, and because of that, his mental health would drop.

Then he, Li Wei, would siphon all the luck he wanted. And as for what happens to Jidenna after he is done, 'Sorry, that's not my concern.'

After he was done, he would go to the administration and raise concerns over his roommate's mental health, like the good person he is.

When the university psychologist examines Jidenna, they would find out what's wrong with him.

To avoid any problems, they would separate the two of them.

But Li Wei and the system forgot that dreaming of something is easy, but reality is not always the same.