[center][b]Matsushima Mitsuko[/b]
[i]Classroom 2-A, Yurei High School[/i][/center]

It seemed that someone had tried to proffer up an answer. The girl who had spoken, Karuta Seiko if Mitsuko wasn't mistaken, certainly had made something of a name for herself. Mitsuko hardly had any delusions on why said girl would choose to come to an Occult Club meeting, and the answer that Seiko had given only further cemented that fact. Regardless, her expression remaining stagnant, Mitsuko gave a slight nod in response to the given answer. 

"Thank you for your...[i]attempt[/i] at an answer. Karuta-san, correct?" She replied. "While you're on the right track, it's important to try and make our definitions properly holistic, though. That explanation of yours operates off of a key concept that can be seen as the crux of occult matters: the soul. A spiritual construct that operates as a force of life outside of empirical fact. Ah, but first..."

Letting out an airy sigh, Mitsuko briefly shifted her gaze on Charles. Of course, she had expected that he would be a problem child, but he was nonetheless at least halfway necessary for her plans, so she would just have to humor him for the time being. 

"Mr. Thompson, I've noticed you really seem to like something on that phone of yours. That's quite the coincidence, I have something on my phone I'm quite fond of as well. Now, please [b]mute[/b] your volume and be a bit more respectful. I won't tolerate your usual brand of disobedience here."

After speaking, Mitsuko shrugged her shoulders helplessly, as though her thinly-veiled threat had been the fault of circumstances outside of her control. She had little doubt that Seiko would probably have written what she had just said down and already have developed a host of possible conclusions on the matter, but she couldn't be bothered to concern herself with such matters. Something that was appreciated though was the fact that one of the girls present had seen fit to threaten Charlie; that seemed to indicate at least some interest in her club's focus, which was certainly welcome. 

On the other side of the spectrum was the girl who was very obviously in the wrong classroom, a notion made all the more apparent by her blatant confession to that fact. Shaking her head with a trace of disdain, Mitsuko let out a soft sigh before replying to the hopelessly embarrassed girl. "Terribly sorry, this is the Occult Club. I believe the Music Club is in 3-B or 3-A, I can't quite recall. If you'd like to stay, you're welcome to, but feel free to leave."

With that matter addressed, Mitsuko looked back over the gathered individuals as a whole, letting out a brief hum and subsequently speaking back up. "Now then, on the matter of the 'soul'."

"In sum, the soul is the heart of occult theories, but precisely because it is the heart of occult theories, making a true definition of it is a trial in itself. Doing such is akin to developing a grand unified theory, or "solving" morality. As such, we have an assortment of somewhat overlapping theories on the matter, some more viable than others. Essentially, you can treat the soul as a force of life possessed by beings that can 'comport themselves as a possibility within themselves'."

"Now, I should explain at this moment that the soul does function outside of the realm of empirical physics; however, it does not function outside the realm of science. Occultism is not non-rational, contradictory, or irreconcilable with reason. It does not generate logical fallacies. At its core, occultism is based around the concept of the human soul, and thus it is based in human reason and logic. There are, indeed, occult theories that blatantly go against what we know as observable truth, whether scientific, logical, or otherwise. We are not here to speak about crackpot theories any more than as an example of historical foolishness, such as how you have learned about the history of human understanding of the atom."

"A ghost is essentially 'a soul that does not possess a physical form conducive to its nature'. We will be explaining this further in future meetings, as well as speaking on the nature of the soul and how to reconcile it with empirical reality, but for now simply understand that. If my soul existed without my body, it could be called a ghost. If my soul, instead of being in my body, entered another physical object, we would still call it a ghost as the physical body is not conducive to its 'nature' as that of Matsushima Mitsuko. This is what is referred to as "possession", the occupation of a non-conducive physical body by a spiritual force."

"Now, the exact reasoning behind the formation of a ghost is unknown. Generally, the physical body serves as an anchor for the soul, which is a principle we will go in-depth on later, but in select circumstances, a soul becomes anchored to the world rather than a physical body. Thus, even after the body ceases to be, the soul will remain anchored accordingly. This is just one method by which a soul can persist without a body. While heavy emotional attachment or a 'vengeful' attitude is often colloquially linked to a soul's aptitude for surviving without a body, these are actually just colloquialisms, and don't have any definite correlation at the current time. That's not to say it isn't true, but rather that we haven't observed it to be certainly true at this time. It is, however, worth noting that the chance of any of these occurrences happening is incredibly minute, and when coupled with the fact that phenomena at this level functions outside of 'physical' reality, it makes recording these phenomena a trial in itself."

"This will be the point from which we segue into the Halloween Extravaganza's topic. Before then, though, I'll be opening the floor up to questions, providing they are related to the topic at hand. Please, don't be shy."