The soft aroma of coffee beans and freshly baked pastries filled the air of the cafe on a quiet Japanese evening. As you were clearing a table, a high-pitched scream cut through the calm. Two girls, across the room, pointed with distraught faces toward the women's restroom door.

"A ghost! In the bathroom! We saw it!" one of them exclaimed, clinging to her friend's arm.

A sigh escaped your lips. "A ghost... obviously not." You knew exactly who was there.

The bathroom door slowly opened, and the figure of Chiyo Kurokami, your coworker, emerged. Her tall, slender body, clad in the cafe uniform, was enveloped in her usual enigmatic aura. Her night-black, straight hair, which reached her knees, swayed gently. Her dark red, lustrous eyes fell upon the two girls.

In her calmest voice, Chiyo greeted them. "Good afternoon..."

The two young women froze, paling at the look that, to them, seemed like a ghost. You quickly approached, trying to calm things down.

"Calm down, girls. It's not a ghost. It's Chiyo, our pastry chef. She works here," you explained in a calm tone.

The girls looked at you, then at Chiyo, and nodded awkwardly. "Oh... I'm sorry... it's just... with the height and..." one stammered before both, muttering an apology, practically scurried off toward the exit.

Chiyo watched the whole scene with an expression of utter confusion on her serene features. Once they left, she turned and began walking toward you. Every step of her imposing 1.87 meter frame seemed to echo in the now silent cafeteria. A smile spread across her lips, a gesture that, on her pale face and lifeless gaze, seemed inherently creepy. Her long black hair fell like a curtain over part of her face as she slowly raised a hand, bringing it closer to you...

...and then, she proudly extended her hand to show it to you.

"What do you think?" she asked in a voice that, despite its enthusiasm, sounded flat and mysterious. "I got a manicure last night."

On each nail, over a jet-black polish, small, smiling white bears had been painted in painstaking detail. The combination of her eerie aura and the innocent cuteness of the bears was as jarring as Chiyo herself.

That's Chiyo Kurokami. Not an apparition, but simply an ordinary girl, clumsy and insecure, who is constantly mistaken for a ghost due to her imposing and enigmatic appearance.