The one thing that Clockwork didn't prepare Danny for was the constant riff-raff that appeared in his bedroom. He learned about ghost etiquette, the many ghost hierarchies, and how to assert dominance in debates. Hell, Clockwork even quizzed him on each distinct cultural group and taught him about how to address them. In that respect, Danny was well-beyond prepared to be King.

Although, he doubted that he'd make it to his coronation without blowing a gasket if ghosts kept invading his personal space. They kept asking for favor after favor and he wasn't even King yet! It was driving him crazy. One minute, he'd be playing his favorite video game and the next, some sleazy spirit would stick their head into the TV.

Danny was certain that if there was a higher being out there, it hated him. All he wanted was an hour to do his homework. If he didn't finish his English essay, he was screwed. Like not-graduating screwed. And he had to graduate because it was the one condition his parents gave him when he'd dropped the 'oh yeah, I'm going to be King of another dimension' bomb on them last fall. They supported his decision as long as he got his diploma.

Apparently, God—or whoever it was up there—had other plans.

Walker's face burned into existence right before Danny's eyes.

"Ghost child," he drew out in his Southern drawl.

Danny calmly broke the pencil he'd been using. "Get out."

"I've come to make you an offer."

"I don't care. Get out of my room, otherwise, I will press the panic button and call my parents up here so I don't have to deal with you."

There wasn't a panic button, but not many people were inclined to call his bluff.

"I've been instructed to clear your record before your coronation, otherwise you will not be permitted to ascend as King."

Danny was impatient. Did Walker even have to visit him to tell him this? Couldn't he have just sent one of his guards to relay the message? Dealing with Walker in person was the absolute worst. He tended to spit when he spoke.

"So? Pardon me. You make the rules, after all."

Walker's grin curled. "Exactly. I make the rules."

He did not like where this was going.

"I've decided that you will detain a fugitive for me. In exchange, I'll scrub your record. Got it?"

Why couldn't the world just let him write this essay?

"Do I have to?"

The warden was amused. Bastard.

"Well, you can't exactly become King with a criminal record like yours."

"They're false charges—"

"Not according to me."

"I command you to pardon me."

"You have no authority yet, ghost child."

He groaned. "Fine. What stupid fugitive do I have to go find for you?"

Walker waved his hand and a manila folder appeared. "The name's Dimple. All his info is here. He started out in a fighting ring to amass power before he slipped into the human world. Word says that he's become a human cult leader, overshadowing his victims."

"And you'd know all about that sort of scandal, wouldn't you?"

Walker glowered. "I did what I did in order to uphold the law—"

"To frame me."

"You brought that on yourself. Now, I want Dimple within the week. Otherwise, I'll assign you a second fugitive to find."

"What? That's not fair."

He still had an essay to finish. He couldn't just devote all his time to Walker's bullshit!

"Too bad." Walker threw the folder at him. "Your time starts now."

Walker vanished, leaving Danny alone with a case file and an incomplete essay. He set the file down on his desk and pressed his head against the wall. Breathe seven seconds in. Eight seconds out.

There was no way he'd be able to pull both of them off. Damnit.

If anything could find Dimple in the human world, it was the Infimap. Danny spoke with Frostbite—who was more than eager to help—and borrowed it for the day.

"Alright, Map… take me to Dimple."

Now that he said it again, he realized that Dimple was such a weird name. Danny had met his fair share of strange ghosts, but none of them had named themselves after a facial feature before.

The map tugged forward and suddenly he was careening through the Ghost Zone at the speed of sound. After a minute or so, a portal opened up in front of him and Danny was thrust into daylight. His feet hit the pavement with a jolt and the world stilled around him.

From what he could tell, he was on the other side of the world. When he'd left Amity, it had been around eight at night. Now, the sun was almost directly overhead. That meant he must be somewhere in Asia, or maybe Australia? No, probably Asia. These buildings looked very Asian… even if he couldn't place what country he was in.

He was on a residential street. It wasn't very busy or anything, but there were a few people milling about. Nobody had seen him yet, which was probably a good thing considering that he was still in his ghost form. Danny ducked behind a row of trash cans and transformed into human form. At least now he would have more stealth among the humans. Even if he did stick out like a sore thumb because he was very not Asian.

Danny started walking around. He figured it was only a matter of time before Dimple's presence would set off his ghost sense and steer him in the right direction. For now, his only option was to scope out the area. And maybe tour a bit, considering that he was in another country.

After walking around two or three blocks, Danny concluded he was in Japan. It wasn't too difficult to piece together. He may suck at geography, but even he could recognize the Japanese flag on some car's bumper.

Tucker had always wanted to visit Japan. Sam said it was because he was a weeaboo and that she was the more chill anime fan—an otaku—but Danny couldn't tell the difference. Nonetheless, he knew that he'd be jealous as hell when he found out Danny went without him.

"That's not a conversation I'm looking forward to," he groaned.

A few people on the street gave him a few odd glances. Probably because he was a pasty white boy talking to himself in English. From what he could tell, this wasn't a big city like Tokyo, so they probably weren't used to foreigners. Figured. What was this city, anyway? Maybe he could Google it and get some clues on where Dimple might be hiding.

Before Danny could reach for his phone, a chill snaked up his throat. He breathed out his ghost sense and glanced around. Dimple was nearby.

He knew that walking around aimlessly would eventually work.

Although, he hadn't expected some fugitive to be hanging out in a high school. Or middle school? He couldn't tell. The building vaguely resembled an American school but had a few distinguishing nuances. Wasn't Japanese education much better than American education, anyway? He felt like that was some kind of statistic.

Danny slipped behind a nearby tree and transformed back into ghost form. It'd be much easier to fly through the building instead of scouting his charge on foot. Besides, he had to be ready for a fight. Walker said that this dude amassed power in the Ghost Zone, so he was likely a force to be reckoned with. And Danny would reckon.

Why was he in a school, anyway? Danny had met a few ghosts that hung out in schools (considering that he was one, anyway), but haunting a bunch of kids didn't seem like this guy's M.O. Supposedly he was a cult leader.

Wait.

Was he recruiting students? Using a bunch of innocent kids as meat puppets? The idea of overshadowing students made something in Danny's core wrench. All he could see was red. He was ready to pummel this bastard.

Stay level-headed. Don't lose yourself in your obsession.

… right. That's right. He shouldn't let anger consume him, especially as King-in-Waiting. What had he been thinking? Even if Dimple was some sleazy cult leader possessing children, Danny could free them. He could save them. If he engaged Dimple under the influence of wrath, he could lose himself—lose them.

Anger wasn't worth it.

Danny kicked off the ground and phased into the school, maintaining invisibility of course. He entered through the back of a classroom, facing the blackboard. An actual blackboard—not a whiteboard. A nasally woman scrawled equations on the board, capturing the entire room. Danny could see that most of the students were zoned out, but a few kids in the front were aptly taking notes.

He noted that they looked around thirteen or fourteen, so that'd make this high school, right? They were also all wearing uniforms, so that was kinda weird. Danny remembered the week Casper High had to wear uniforms… that had been hell. He wondered how they put up with it because those outfits looked really uncomfortable.

He flew through the next few classrooms, searching for any ghosts. It occurred to him that Dimple could be overshadowing someone, so he made sure to check everyone's eyes for any indication of possession. He must've checked over half of the classrooms before he started getting weary. His ghost sense said that Dimple was nearby but he was nowhere to be found. He wished that Walker gave him a photo or something because that would make this job a lot easier.

Danny drifted into the hallway, floating on his back. "Dimple… where are you?"

"You're looking for Dimple?" someone below him asked. Danny choked in response and tumbled in the air, spinning to face a dark-eyed boy with a bowl cut. The boy's eyes followed Danny in the air despite the fact that he was still invisible, and somehow he'd understood him even though they were in Japan.

What?

"Who are you?"

Maybe Danny had heard wrong. Maybe this boy hadn't responded to him, maybe he'd imagined it.

"Oh, I'm Kageyama Shigeo." He bowed his head. "Nice to meet you."

Well, there goes that theory.

Danny flew down so that he and Shigeo were at eye-level. "Uh, I guess? How can you see me? No—how can you understand me?"

He tilted his head. "Am I not supposed to understand you?"

"I mean, I'm speaking English."

"Oh, okay."

There was something about how this kid was taking everything nonchalantly. Danny couldn't place his finger on it, but it was kinda weird.

"You don't uh, seemed freaked out by a ghost just hanging out in your school."

"I didn't really think about it."

"Do you see ghosts often?"

"Whenever they're around, I guess. My master takes me on exorcisms, but other than that the only ghost I really see around school is Dimple."

Right. This kid knew Dimple.

"Yeah, about Dimple… do you know where he is?"

Shigeo tilted his head back for a moment in thought. "He should be with my master today."

Well, that was ominous and vague.

"And your master is...?"

"Oh, Reigen Arataka."

"Does he go here?"

"No, he's a psychic."

He spoke like that answered everything. Did that mean that Reigen wasn't a student? Maybe he was a teacher?

"So uh, where is he?"

"Probably at his office, Spirits and Such Consultation Office."

Danny groaned. "Look, I sensed Dimple here, so that means he's here."

Maybe this kid was protecting Dimple. He seemed pretty upfront, but it could just be a facade.

Shigeo hummed and tapped his fingers against his head. "Maybe he's with my brother Ritsu instead. He's a first-year."

Finally, some helpful information. But… it was information that still left a lot unanswered. For instance, what was Shigeo and Ritsu's connection with this cult leader? Were they his disciples?

"So uh, why would he be with him? I mean, how do you two know him?"

"Dimple follows me around because he wants me to be powerful. I don't really get it."

Danny's mind ran a loop. "He wants you to be powerful? Not the other way around? Like, uh, he doesn't want people to follow him?"

"He used to. I made him stop because he was hurting people. Now he's all tiny."

Who was this kid? Did he have powers like Danny? Surely he couldn't be a halfa, but this kid seemed to bolster a lot of influence, at least with Dimple. Plus, he could see and speak to Danny.

"How'd you do that?"

"I'm an esper."

"A what?"

"I have psychic powers."

Something clicked. Clockwork hadn't elaborated much, but he'd mentioned something about humans that could manipulate psychic spheres and could interact with spirits. If this kid was an esper or whatever, that must be why they could understand each other!

"So that's why you can talk to me even though I'm speaking English?"

"I guess. Why are you looking for Dimple?"

Danny froze. Should he tell him the truth? Allegedly, Dimple had changed his ways—if he told this kid that he was here to snatch his friend for ghost crimes, that might go down well. Furthermore, should he even go through with it? If Shigeo was telling the truth, he was supposedly harmless now, right? Change was difficult for ghosts, even Danny. If this guy had rehabilitated himself then Danny didn't want to punish him for it! That's not what a good King did.

Ancients, he hated dilemmas.

"I uh, need to question him for some ghost stuff."

Did he though?

"Oh, okay."

For a moment, Shigeo just stared at him. Danny could see the cogs moving in his head, trying to piece something together. It felt like he was under a microscope, under the other boy's scrutiny. It wasn't malicious or anything, just intense. Like he could see something that Danny couldn't—an unnerving feeling.

After a moment, Danny shook himself from Shigeo's spell and compelled himself to say something, anything. "Thanks for your help."

Shigeo blinked and bowed his head again. Danny knew that the Japanese tended to be more polite, but this felt different. This felt like a subject bowing to his King and it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"You're welcome," he said. "I have to get back to class now."

Danny almost responded "see you around" but clearly he wouldn't. He doubted that their paths would ever cross again. It was a shame because even though Shigeo was pretty weird, he was equally interesting. An esper. Just a regular kid with powers, a kid that could see beyond things that anyone else could (even him). He almost reminded Danny of himself at that age.

He watched Shigeo descend down the hallway and turn the corner. When Danny was sure that he was alone, he unrolled the Infimap and left with an empty thermos.

After all, he still had an essay to finish.

When Danny voiced his doubts the next day, Clockwork responded indubitably. Sometimes Danny wished that his mentor would give him a lot less credit.

"You made the right choice."

Danny eyed Clockwork warily. "You always say that. How do I know you're not trying to make me feel better?"

"Because you trust me."

"Debatable."

"A debate I'd win in every future."

He scoffed. "That seems like a gross generalization."

"I assure you, it's not. Besides, you don't have to worry. Walker doesn't have any real jurisdiction over your coronation anyway."

Clockwork's revelation took a minute to register, but when it did Danny's vision tunneled.

"Are you saying that I got played?"

Clockwork cocked an unsympathetic smile. "You got played."