An ordinary day for high-school student Hikari Shindou turns strange when she notices an unearthly presence around her kogal classmate Yuina Kurihara. There's a pale, wide-eyed, stringy-haired spectre hovering just behind her... and then Yuina turns around and shows it the cute viral video she was showing to Hikari!
Despite Hikari's initial suspicions and misgivings, it turns out "Reiko" is perfectly harmless, just lonely and not used to life in the 21st century. But Yuina is more than happy to introduce her new friend to all the wonders of the modern world, from boba tea to video arcades, and Hikari finds herself warming up to this strange new friend.
There's a Ghost Behind That Gal (Gyaru no Haigo ni Rei ga Iru) began as a web comic before getting serialized in Weekly Shonen Champion in November 2020.
Tropes:
- All-Loving Hero: Yuina has a big caring heart as evidenced by her taking Reiko in out of trust that the latter was harmless.
- Big Eater: Reiko eats a lot of sweets. Due to her already being dead, she never gains weight.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Muka, the girl with the twin buns from Class B introduced at the end of chapter 17, turns out to be an old friend of Yuina's from grade school, now a self-proclaimed rival.
- Cute Mute: Reiko seems to be incapable of speaking.
- Cynic–Idealist Duo: Yuina is a lot more peppy and optimistic than the snarky Hikari.
- A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 9 focuses on Yuina's father Yuuichirou, who is the only person in his family who can't see Reiko and struggles to find out who or what she is.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: It turns out dogs can see Reiko, though she's just as scared of them as they are of her.
- Friendly Ghost: Despite looking somewhat like a typical Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl, Reiko is perfectly harmless and just wants to be friends with Yuina and Hikari.
- Ghost Amnesia: "Reiko" is a nickname Yuina gave the Cute Ghost Girl; she doesn't remember her real name or identity.
- Gyaru Girl: Yuina rocks the usual kogal fashion of tanned skin, dyed-blonde hair, and mini-skirts.
- Halloween Episode: In chapters 11 and 12, the girls attend a Halloween event at a local shopping plaza. Reiko (who's in disguise as a kid in a Bedsheet Ghost costume) accidentally gets separated from her mortal friends and ends up helping a stubborn little girl named Yuuka reunite with her mother.
- Invisible to Normals: Most people can't see Reiko, with Yuina and Hikari being two of the few exceptions.
- The Mirror Shows Your True Self: In chapter 16, a shop clerk catches a brief glimpse of Reiko's reflection in a changing room mirror, and isn't sure if she was just seeing things.
- Nice Girl: Yuina. After all, it takes a special person to "adopt" a ghost when they first met them without any serious setbacks, and even giving another ghost a make-over.
- Origins Episode: A bonus chapter shows that Yuina met Reiko all alone at a remote shrine and brought her home.
- Phony Psychic: In chapter 13, the girls meet a fortune-teller known as "The Witch of the Vacant Lot". She likes to tell naive and superstitious young women that they're haunted to get them to buy her cheap "lucky charms", but she's forced to play along when Yuina comes to believe she can see Reiko too.
- Photo-Booth Montage: In one chapter Hikari and Yuina show off a purikura ("print club") booth to Reiko, but all the pictures they take with her come out creepy and distorted.
- Stern Teacher: Chapter 5 introduces the girls' math teacher, Mr. Kondou, whose strict and intimidating demeanor has earned him the nickname "King Kon".
- Stronger Than They Look: Despite her small, frail-seeming stature, Reiko is actually very strong, demonstrating unnatural superhuman strength several times throughout the manga. This is first seen in chapter 3, when she gets the high score on a strength-testing machine at the arcade.
