I Fell In Love With A Girl Who Died Before I Was Even Born

Sorane looked at me expectantly, waiting for an answer.

Azuki beat me to it.

"That's a weird thing to ask, right?"

Hotaru looked like she might laugh, but Sorane's expression morphed into genuine shock.

"What? No way!" she said. "It's, like… amazing."

She dragged out the word like it had three extra syllables, milking the drama for all it was worth.

Larry, the bus driver, started the engine, and we jolted forward down the road toward the grocery store. Up front, Fushineko-sensei turned around in her seat and glared at us like we were a disturbance in the force.

"I swear," she said, deadpan. "You're going to regret stopping for her."

Hotaru gave her a single glance, wrinkled her nose, and spun toward Sorane with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"Okay," she said. "I'll bite. Even if it's just because that mean cat-lady thinks you're a lunatic. What's so great about Inari and stained glass?"

And I swear, Sorane's whole face lit up.

Not metaphorically. I mean, it looked like someone flipped the switch inside her skull and her eyes caught fire. She grinned ear to ear, leaned forward toward the middle of the seat, and motioned us in like she was about to reveal the secrets of the universe.

Azuki, Hotaru, Yuki, and I leaned in too.

"For starters," Sorane whispered, her voice just loud enough to rise above the roar of the engine, "it's everything."

She paused.

We waited.

Azuki raised one eyebrow. Then she reached into her fanny pack, unzipped it with flair, pulled out a box of Nerds, popped the lid, poured some into her mouth, and pointed at Sorane with a frown of judgment.

Then, mouth half-full of rainbow gravel:

"Explain yourself."

Sorane rolled her eyes a bit.

"I see. You guys don't get it."

"I see. You guys don't get it."

She bit her lower lip and looked at all of us with a mischievous gleam that reminded me of a leprechaun trying to sell us bad mushrooms.

Probably the red hair.

"Let's say we don't," Hotaru said, deadpan. "Tell us anyway."

Sorane took a breath and rocked her head from one shoulder to the other like she was gearing up for a TED Talk.

"Okay. Start with regular glass. Just plain, boring, dull. No frills."

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She looked around, checking that we were still with her.

"You follow?"

Azuki threw her hands up like she was about to physically throttle her.

"Yes! Please get to your point!" she sputtered, spraying Nerds like a malfunctioning sprinkler.

Sorane calmly wiped a red Nerd off her cheek and carried on.

"But stained glass is so cool because it reflects color. Like, you get reds, oranges, yellows — put 'em together, shine some light behind it… boom."

She whispered boom like it was a sacred invocation. Her face glowed with the intensity of someone describing a life-altering religious vision.

Azuki tilted her head.

"I don't get it," she said flatly.

Sorane huffed, arms crossed.

"Hmph. Of course you don't. You're just a tanuki. I bet if it were a bottle of sake you'd understand it perfectly."

Azuki's mouth dropped open in a scandalized little O.

Hotaru looked like she was about to die trying not to laugh.

But Yuki, bless her, broke the silence with gentle horror.

"Sorane, really," she said. "Azuki's a minor. She's not even old enough to drink sake."

"Yeah!" Azuki said, scandalized. "And I don't even like the taste. It's bitter and weird and it makes my ears hot!"

The look on Yuki's face was priceless — like she'd just heard a raccoon reject free dessert on moral grounds.

Outside, I saw the sign for the grocery store.

"Hey," I said, and the girls looked over towards me as I pointed at the glowing marque. "Is this where we're going?"

The girls saw what I meant straight away.

"The Piggly Wiggly," Azuki read aloud.

She squinted at the glowing sign.

"That can't be for real. That sounds like something I would make up."

Kurogane-sensei stood in front of the sliding glass doors like a monk facing a temple gate. She didn't move. She just stared at the automatic sensors until they triggered.

The rest of the students slowly made their way off the bus.

Fushineko-sensei was supposed to be counting the students as they stepped departed, but from what I could tell she was just standing there holding the clipboard and trying not to fall asleep.

Thankfully, Kurogane-sensei had her own clipboard, and counted everyone as they lined up beside the grocery store's door.

"Can everyone hear me?" she asked.

Hanashi Jinbei, a Mimihanashi, whose ears were so damn large they hung almost to the ground in his full yokai form, raised his hand.

"What?" he asked.

A coupe of yokai around him laughed, but Kurogane-Sensei simply narrowed her eyes, and he suddenly shut up and looked serious.

"As I was saying, the reason we're here is to experience a mundane, ordinary human shopping experience. Now, the staff of Piggly Wiggly know we're coming, so you need not be too nervous. However, the point of this is to try to blend in."

She looked directly at Hanashi.

"Jinbei-san," Kurogane-sensei said. "That means no yokai ears, do you understand?"

He nodded.

"Yes, sensei," he muttered.

"Enter with dignity," she said. "Leave without arrest."

I hoped she was joking, but when I saw the way Azuki grinned at Hotaru, and Hotaru just patted the pocket that held her "lucky" throwing star, I wondered if she were being serious.

The yokai integration class was supposed to learn how to shop among humans without… causing an incident.

Hotaru was not on the class list.

But that didn't stop her from acting like an authority figure.

The very first thing she did when she walked into the Piggly Wiggly was head straight for the shopping carts.

Azuki squeezed her way though the automatic door before I could catch up with them.

"Gracious, Ryu," Yuki said when she saw the frustrated look on my face as I got stuck behind a long line of yokai who kept trying to push their way though an automatic door that simply refused to be shoved around by anyone, monster or not.

"Yuki, I just lost sight of Azuki and Hotaru," I said.

Beside me, I saw Sorane casually walk up to me as though the crowd weren't even a problem for her.

"Oh, I can see how that could be bad," Sorane said deadpan.

"Do you want me to float inside and see what they're up to?" Yuki asked.

I nodded towards my ghost girl.

"Yes, that'd be helpful," I told her.

Yuki ignored the line of yokai slowly making their way inside and simply floated though the wall.

Sorane watched Yuki, then she sighed sadly.

"Well, that's very clever for getting inside," Sorane said. "But what's she supposed to do once Yuki is in there? It's not like she can actually stop Hotaru and Azuki from doing anything."

I pinched the bridge of my nose in impotent frustration.

"Damn it, Sorane," I said. "That would've been helpful twenty seconds ago before I sent Yuki in there."

She just smiled at me though.

"Ahh, yes. A lesson for next time then."