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

Shion walked beside me as we stepped out into the dusky twilight outside the Literature Club room. It smelled like chalk dust, mango vape smoke, and leftover existential dread.

The two of us stepped out of the stuffy, repressive air of Black Withers Hall and into the cool Shin'yume evening that was already turning pastel orange in the distance.

I didn't say anything at first. She didn't either.

I thought maybe she'd duck back to Obie's lodge first chance she had, but instead, she stayed with me as I made my way down the steps.

I decided to walk her to her dorm. So we took the stone path that ran toward the east dorms. She didn't rush ahead. She didn't vanish. She didn't act like she was waiting for me to be clever.

Instead, after a few silent steps, she slipped her arm into mine like it belonged there. In her mind, I wondered if it did.

We weren't hand-holding. There was nothing possessive.

Just... linked.

And it felt so different from Murasaki. Opposite from her.

And it was enough to make me notice. Enough to make me feel warm in a way that I definitely wasn't prepared for.

Shion never wanted people to see she cared.

Or, if she did once, she had stopped wanting that a long time ago. That meant when she wanted someone to see it? Yeah, it was everything.

Especially to me.

"Hey," she said, turning to me slightly. "You free tonight?"

I hesitated.

I didn't want to lie, but I also didn't want to explain. That kind of silence tends to hang in the air just long enough to get awkward.

"I, uh… I kind of promised Azuki and Yuki I'd help them out with something," I said.

That didn't make it sound better.

"Help them with what?" she asked, her voice cool, but not cold. "Helping out a bunch of wannabe raccoons now?"

I laughed, trying to keep it casual. "Something like that."

She stopped walking.

So did I.

She stepped in front of me, arms crossed, not hostile, but alert, like a lioness who smelled bullshit.

Her eyes searched mine, sharp and quietly worried.

She could tell something was up. I knew it.

"Spill it, Blondie."

I sighed.

"I need money," I admitted. "Hibana showed up Wednesday asking for rent. I spent most of mine on that stupid burner phone."

She raised an eyebrow, and her eyes narrowed just a little.

"And your solution to raise rent money was to turn to this tanuki side hustle?"

She took a breath just so she could laugh.

"Really? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?"

Yeah, I do now.

"I… so, I asked Azuki. And she said she'd see if the other tanuki could help out. Said they've got somethings I can help out with and some of them can pay."

She grinned, showing me the tips of her fangs, and didn't have to say another word.

"I dunno. I'm trying," I said.

It sounded lame.

She tilted her head.

"Why didn't you ask me?"

I looked away, immediately.

"A-ha," she whispered.

She took a step forward and leaned in until I had to meet her eyes. They were greener than usual tonight, like bottle glass under moonlight.

"You're too proud to ask for help, aren't you, Blondie?"

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She smirked, but it wasn't mean. It was something warmer.

Familiar.

I heard her take a breath so she could speak.

"You're just as stubborn as I am," she said, rolling her eyes like it was a problem she'd decided to live with anyway.

"You're lucky I like that."

Then she asked the question that should've been obvious:

"If I offered you money, would you take it?"

I actually smiled.

"I tell you what," I began. "If I can't get anything from the tanuki, then I'll come by your dorm and ask."

She scoffed.

"Don't bother coming by," she teased. "I won't be there."

A flash of a smile across her eyes.

"I'll be going into town for a minute. This party-girl's buying herself a dress since she's got a date tomorrow. Text me. With your stupid burner phone."

That got a genuine laugh out of me. I was still smiling when she stepped closer again.

I thought she was going to bite me.

She didn't.

Instead, she kissed me.

Light. Quick. On my lips.

And somehow I noticed that, for once, her lips weren't dry.

Not even a little. They were soft. She'd used chapstick.

Shion, the queen of chapped vampire lips, had applied something in advance.

She planned this, I realized.

She didn't say anything. Just looked at me for a second like she'd dared herself and won.

Then she leaned forward, lips close to my ear.

"Don't you ever tell your little ghost girlfriend about us," she whispered.

Before I could respond, her fangs were in my neck.

Sharp. Sudden. Intimate.

Goddamn it, Shion.

I let her. I always did.

While she drank, I wrapped my arms around her. Not out of weakness, or pain, or instinct.

I held her like I wanted to.

Because I did.

And she didn't pull away.

She finished, took a step back, and wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand.

"You're making quite a big deal out of this dance," I said.

She grinned like a cat, and then she shot me a look from beneath her sleek black hair.

"Maybe I am. So what?" she asked. "It's been a long time since I've been dancing. I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to doing it again."

She took a step forward, into my personal space again.

Her green eyes flashed with amusement.

"I think the last time I was at a school dance, this band called the Gin Blossoms had a hit on the radio."

I thought about that for a moment.

"Hey Jealousy?"

She snorted. Then she drew a breath.

"Your knowledge of the nineties is uncanny for a fifteen-year-old, Blondie."

I wanted to tell her, because I didn't want there to be any secrets between the two of us. I wanted to say I'm NOT fifteen.

But… what was I?

Instead, I told her another truth.

"Shion, I've got to get to that tanuki meeting."

She smirked.

"Of course. Ditching me for something that digs around in the garbage. Classic."

I rolled my eyes.

"You know damn well it's not like that," I said.

She cocked an eyebrow.

Of course she knew.

"You're infuriating," she said out of nowhere. "There's absolutely no good reason why I should worry about what your ghost will think."

She crossed her arms and continued.

"Or that damn succubus. No. Especially that damn succubus. But…"

Her waterless eyes met mine.

"Murasaki had better be aware that…"

She struggled with what to say next.

She looked away. Then back again.

"…that I'm not just some dead girl clinging to warmth."

She took another step forward. Her fingers brushed mine.

"I kissed you because I wanted to," she said, lacing our fingers together. "I drank from you because I trusted you."

She took another breath.

"And I'm standing here like an idiot because I care what happens when you walk away."

She blinked once. Slowly. Like it took effort.

I caught her eyes again.

"And yet, you're going to Dick's tomorrow night with Inego?" I asked.

She playfully pushed me away.

"And you're going to see your goody-two-shoes ghost and tanuki sidekick."

Then we both laughed.

"So, um," I stammered. "Should we kiss or something?"

She leaned forward.

"Am I your girlfriend?" she asked.

Our eyes met.

Checkmate.

A few moments later, I watched Shion disappear as she took the path through the Crescent Moon Academy gate towards town.

I started walking towards the hemlock grove, where Azuki told me the meeting with the tanuki was.

The stone path curved eastward, and I saw the lamps by the path simply gave up about halfway to the grove.

The sky hung heavy with stars that didn't blink. It felt colder now. Or maybe that was just the way Shion's silence still clung to my chest like the last note of a slow song.

I made my way toward the grove, following the scent before I saw the gathering, fried chicken, buttery bread, and gravy thick enough to count as a felony in three prefectures.

There they were.

The tanuki, Azuki, and one beautiful ghost girl.

I watched a group of the tanuki students as I got closer. They were a loose cluster of chaos, mischief, and bad ideas wearing human skins like oversized hoodies.

They'd dragged a pile of mismatched lawn chairs into a clearing beside a grove of old hemlocks, some folded out properly, some half-collapsed, and one beat-up old armchair clearly stolen from the Crescent Moon faculty lounge.

Azuki sat sideways on hers, one leg kicked over the armrest, chewing on a biscuit with her mouth full like she was trying to prove a point to gravity. She waved me over with a drumstick.

"Heeeyyy, Ryu-sama! You made it! We were about to eat your share!"

One of the other tanuki, a taller girl with thick eyebrows and a hoodie that said "Tanuki and Proud" in peeling glitter letters, pointed at a red plastic plate already piled high.

"We saved you some. Chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, and slaw. Be grateful. Toriyama's was about to close."

I blinked.

"You brought food?"

Azuki snorted. "You think tanuki hold meetings without snacks? Please. We're not monsters."

I heard a cough. I turned and saw a tanuki holding a bottle of sake above his head.

"Snack? Heck, we brought drinks too," he said.

A small cheer went up around the clearing as other raised their glasses and bottles before drinking.

Another one, short, round-faced, with a ruby nose ring and a clipboard, grinned at me and pulled out a pen.

"You said you needed work, right? Azuki vouches for you. So we've got some gigs. They're weird. They're kind of illegal. But they pay. Eat first. Then we'll talk."

Azuki tossed a napkin at me like it was a signed contract.

I took the plate and sat in a half-broken chair that squeaked under me like it had opinions.

Warm, slightly stale biscuits. Tangy gravy that needed a knife to cut through it.

Cole slaw that actually tasted like it had been made by someone's grandma, so there was that.

And around me?

Lawn chairs. Fried food.

A tanuki with a spreadsheet.

And a sky so wide it could swallow all my problems for just a little while, but behind me lurked the grey stone of Crescent Moon Academy, and its shadow was large enough to loom over the entre hemlock grove.