Mai was definitely daunted by the task at hand. Here she was, about to perform a Fear ability that she barely understood before a large crowd of her peers. She admitted that most of the people gathered probably weren't paying attention to her specifically.. but still. She could imagine all of their eyes on her, prepared to witness her imminent failure. Oh, she had practiced her shielding technique some on her own time.. but certainly not extensively. And honestly, she'd never actually put any real *oomph* into it, not the kind of effort that made you break into a sweat. Now here she was, about to be scored on it. Scored by some cold, calculating, and merciless... box. Standardized tests made her skin crawl. Mai eyed the Fear Meter suspiciously. How would it even measure a defensive skill anyway? Was she supposed to cast her wall on the candlejacking device? Or was she supposed to raise her shield around it? The answer seemed pretty obvious, but who knew. Sometimes these tests were rigged.

Sigh. Right then. She needed to just get to it. Couldn't stand here all day pondering about it, or she'd never get it done. She ran her hand through her pale hair in a motion that looked mostly casual but was more of a nervous tick than anything. The ghost fixed her hair, adjusted her skirt, tightened her shoelaces... anything to release the nervous energy building up inside her. It seemed like everything was making her uneasy these days, and she was experiencing some difficulty trying to adjust to it all. Sigh. Life used to be so simple.

It's still simple, the ghoul told herself, forcing herself to relax. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the perpetual ebb and flow of energy within herself. That was all she was really, energy. Being a ghost and all. If she could just focus on that, on the Fear coursing through her... maybe she could compose herself. She tried to find that place where she used to be so often. A calm, centered place, where very little ruffled her at all. She could do this. It was as simple as snapping her fingers. There was nothing to be afraid of. Handling ghost fire was like breathing for her. Figuratively, of course.

Mai opened her eyes, feeling just a little more settled, and lifted her hand in front of her, palm up. She made her silent invocation, and almost immediately a wisp materialized before her. The ball of vibrant cerulean fire hovered over her outstretched hand, silent as they always were. It emitted small puffs of cool air across her fingertips in rhythm with its gentle pulsing. She smiled, feeling marginally better. Her wisps always had a bit of a calming effect on her.

Alright. Step one, summon wisp. Check. She'd manage to do that without a hitch, though she couldn't recall ever having a hard time conjuring the small hitodama to herself. They were her constant, silent, companions. She really couldn't imagine a life without them. They were as much a part of her as her own shadow, which, was kind of sinister when she thought about it. Her shadow was supremely uncooperative, something she'd learned in her Shadowcraft class. But anyway, those were thoughts for another time.

Now, for the hard part.

Things went rather quickly at that point, as they usually did when she was practicing this ability. Mai snapped her fingers, directing the wisp mentally toward the spot she thought she needed to make her wall. It traveled swiftly toward the Fear Meter, streaking across the space between it and Mai like a little comet trailing threads of pale light. The ghost quickly channeled her Fear into the wisp in a forceful rush that left her feeling weak in the knees. She pushed herself harder than she'd ever done while practicing this move before, struggling to direct her Fear as surged from her. The little blue flame exploded violently, making a tangible *thump* on the air as it did. The impact was enough to make Mai take a step back. The Fear Meter was instantly engulfed in a rising wall of blue fire. Her fire. Unexpectedly, she experienced a moment of pride as she watched the flickering blue light that was the manifestation of her own Fear. She imagined she could see the scale moving as the flames licked at the air. Oh Jack, she hoped she'd done that right.

The shielding wall dissipated after a few moments as Mai released her hold on it. She eyed the number on the scale with a mixture of relief and surprise. That was good right? It'd certainly gone better than she had expected. She was intensely relieved that the flames hadn't backfired, like they did on occasion. That would have been seriously humiliating. Seriously.

That was it then. She'd done her best. Mai could only hope that she managed to do enough to contribute. The school couldn't close. It just didn't seem... right.

And after all, she had nowhere else to go.