The alarm was ringing madly as Mia, Rosemary, Lou, and Emilico hurried back to the room that served as cleaning tools storage. Time was of the essence- if they were tardy, they could be labeled as bad dolls, and bring shame upon their shadow masters and the house.

When they arrived, countless other teams were already there. Dolls of either gender were hastily putting on the soot coats, and picking up various unwieldy tools meant for dealing with densest soot concentrations.

“Mia, how do I put this on?” asked Emilico, looking at the soot mask.

Normally Mia would be flattered by how her junior relies on her, but right now…

“For now it’s just fine with soot coat! Hurry up!”

In contrast to how tense Mia was, Rosemary already came back to her everyday self, and gave a short lecture with the usual sisterly smile adorning her face…

“This is for when you go to places that are really covered in soot, you’ll have a hard time seeing, so it isn’t always useful…”

What was she thinking?! Why is she so relaxed...is there something wrong with her brain!?

“Rose, for goodness sake, the lesson has been suspended!”

They made their way to the upper floor through one of the floor hatches that living dolls and faceless dolls used to stealthy move around the manor without disturbing their shadow masters. Mia was overcome with worry, and couldn’t stop herself from asking Rosemary some questions about the ongoing situation.
After all, the team leader had been here for much longer than she, surely she knew something…?

“Is a ‘ghost’ that thing? Did it really exist?”

“I don’t know either. This is my first time, too…” answered Rosemary, an apologetic look on her face.

Ahhh, so useless! If she didn’t know anything, why was she so relaxed!? This was driving Mia nuts!

“What’s ‘that thing’?” interluded Emilico, ever curious. Frankly speaking, compared to Rosemary’s laid-back and irresponsible attitude, Mia much preferred Emilico’s curiosity.
Except..not now! Now is not the time!

Ghost was an aggregation of clingers. When soot left uncleaned, it eventually turned into little creatures that were known to be rather harmless. But when they gathered in large groups…

As they turned the corner, a huge monstrosity with multiple heads came into the view. Several dolls were already engaging it, hitting it with hammers and other heavy tools….that were most certainly not meant for combat and failed to do any significant damage to the...creature.

At a certain distance behind the combatant, on a small chair, stood...Star-Bearer Barbie, shouting orders and overseeing the situation. Frankly speaking, Mia thought she looked quite comical there, but given the gravity of the situation, she didn’t even smirk at the sight.

Suddenly, a particularly heavy hit scattered part of the phantom into countless tiny clingers. They run on the floor, dodging the clumsy attacks of the various dolls, and straight at Rosemary’s team, the last line of defense!
Mia aimed her stick and swung, hitting her target. However, the force of the blow wasn’t enough to disperse the clinger- it bounced to the side and ran off!

The rest of the team wasn’t any luckier. Emilico dodged out of the way, while Rosemary and Lou were just frozen in place. Barbie was furious.

“Imbecile Rose, is your entire team made out of imbeciles!? Crush the clingers immediately, you good for nothings!”

Mia didn’t need further encouragement. She grabbed Emilico and took off after the escaping clingers.

“That star-bearer is really something…” muttered Mia under her teeth after they covered enough distance and Barbie couldn’t hear them.

“That star-bearer is a really great doll, clingers are when soot gathers and starts moving, when more of it gathers it becomes a ghost” Emilico was counting the newly learned information as if her lesson was still ongoing.

They all had something wrong with their heads!! Why was Mia the only competent person on this team!?

They followed the clinger out of the hallway and into the larger room. ...It was gone!? Couldn’t be!

“Did you see where it hid, Emilico!?”

“...I think it’s behind that frame.”

A frame of a large painting! Good job!

“Tap it from over there! If it comes out, I’ll hit it!”

“O-okay!”

This time, Mia resolved herself to hit the clinger with all of her strength. This time, it will disperse…

“Watch out!” screamed Rosemary, who just arrived on the scene, panting heavily.

What out for what? Couldn’t she see they were in the middle of…
Suddenly, Rosemary jumped in, and shielded Emilico with her body..from the clinger that jumped at the blonde doll from behind!

It wasn’t behind the frame...it’s been under the table all along!
Mia cursed herself once again for relying on her inept junior’s judgment. Meanwhile, Rosemary was stumbling around, a mass of moving, sentient soot on her face, not being able to see a thing.

The sight was...terrifying. After all, a doll whose face was damaged was….
A defective product, to be disposed of!