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

I laughed beside Yuki for as long as I could, but I couldn't sit there all night pretending like nothing was bothering me.

Eventually, I stood up, took a deep breath, and looked at her.

Once again, Azuki had taken Yuki's beautiful, other-worldly, silver hair and turned it into a complete modern-art enigmatic nightmare.

"Honey," I said. "Your hair."

Of course, she paid attention to the wrong part.

"You called me 'honey!'" she said triumphantly.

She spun in a circle, letting her golden/silver locks soar around her like snowflakes catching the last rays at sunset before stopping in front of me.

"Azuki did it," she announced.

I could have guessed.

"Did she use the Sun-In?" I asked.

Yuki nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes! What do you think? It's so very modern, don't you agree?"

She sounded giddy, speaking in her breathless voice but mixed with a dash of childish glee and wonder.

I stood beside my futon in our room watching Yuki twirl next to my big ugly desk as it sat near the patio door, and she looked completely otherworldly and amazing. She was like a winter faery brought to life, infused with a daydream and pure pixie dust.

I felt like the luckiest man alive just to see her laughing.

"Yes, of course," I managed after a moment. "It's thoroughly modern."

Gah, I hoped that was the right thing to say. I sounded like an idiot trying to use Yuki's slang.

But she didn't care. She brought her hand up to her chest, blushed, and stopped spinning so she could face me.

"Do you really like it?" she asked.

Damn it. More than I could say.

"It's… awesome. Yes! Azuki really outdid herself this time," I said.

She rolled her eyes and shuffled her bare feet, which were floating about a half-inch above the onsen's dirty wooden floor.

"Yeah, I suppose she did, huh?"

I glanced at the door to the hall, not wanting to leave.

"Yuki, I gotta go," I said. "But I'll be back in a second."

She frowned.

"Gracious, Ryu, whatever for?" she asked. "I just got here. You're not trying to avoid me, are you?"

I shook my head.

"No. Not at all. In fact, I'd love it if you came with me. While you were gone, I had some trouble with Rinko. She, um, offered for me to be her cameraman in exchange for help with rent."

Yuki looked concerned. She floated closer to my side.

"What happened?"

"Well. Murasaki was on her way to see me, and she didn't like that I was in Rinko's room talking business. She ended up knocking the damn door down," I said.

Yuki's eyes flashed, at first with concern, but then amusement.

"Oh wow! I bet Rinko was furious! She's got quite a temper. Murasaki might be a succubus, but she doesn't stand a chance against an angry oni!"

Yuki floated just behind me as I opened the door to the hall. I stepped out and closed it quietly, only to feel it, the soft thud-thud-thud of Hibana's heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

I paused.

She turned the corner like a freight train in a schoolgirl skirt, eyes immediately locking on me.

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"Oh great," she said. "The idiot himself."

"Hey," I muttered, holding up my hands. "I didn't do anything."

"That's the problem," she snapped. "You so did something, baka! You talked to Murasaki. If you had the slightest idea what she is, you wouldn't be within ten meters of her."

She planted one hand on her hip, her eyes glowing with that particular flame-sensei intensity I'd come to dread.

"But she—"

Hibana wasn't having it whatsoever.

"Shut it. Rinko's not mad at you. She's mad at Murasaki for wrecking her door, and Murasaki's gonna pay for it. End of story."

I blinked. "Really?"

Hibana tilted her head and raised one eyebrow.

"Really. So, good news for you. Count your lucky stars or thank your ancestors."

I started to breathe.

"However," she added, and straight away, tension shot through my shoulders. "Rinko hasn't forgotten about your little offer to be her photographer. She'll take you up on that sometime. And when that day comes, I'll be there, front row, popcorn in hand, watching you trip over your own camera like a moron."

She even held up her hands, like she was holding an invisible camera, and bumbling around with it like a buffoon.

"I didn't mean to offer—"

She just rolled her eyes.

"You absolutely did," Hibana said. "You're lucky she didn't ask for a full modeling portfolio by now."

I sighed.

"Anyway," she went on, crossing her arms, "thanks for the rent money."

I looked at her, confused.

"Wait… Rinko paid you?" I asked.

She'd told me she didn't have money on her at the time.

Hibana scoffed.

"Rinko? No. That girl's got yen earmarked for glitter nail polish and bootleg Game Boy cartridges."

She jerked her chin toward the stairwell.

"Obie, the damn janitor from Crescent Moon Academy, came by," she said.

She didn't look very happy about it.

"It's going to take weeks to get the smell out of the front lobby, so I'll be sure to put that on your list of duties."

Thanks, Obie. Still…

"…Obie? He paid for my rent?"

She nodded slowly, like I was five.

"Yeah. Bitter, loud, smells like paint thinner and wet socks? He said he heard you lived here now. Said he watched you stay and clean up after the tanuki meeting the other night."

I blinked again.

"He what?"

I vaguely remember him popping up near the end. He was probably attracted by the scent of friend chicken and bad decisions.

"He saw it. Said you picking up the saki bottles and tanuki trash saved him from having to clean the place himself. And apparently that's enough for the old grump to pull some strings."

She tilted her head, her tone shifting into condescending big sister tutorial mode:

"So. He told me, and I'm telling you, that if you keep doing it—cleaning up after those chaos creatures—he'll make sure rent's less of a problem."

I stared at her. In the back of my mind, Azuki's words resurfaced.

Tanuki are symbols of prosperity. Maybe you'll get lucky.

Then I nodded, slowly.

"…Huh."

Yuki's voice floated from behind me. "That was… very sweet of him, actually."

I nodded again, smiling to myself.

"Yuki, remind me to thank Obie later. Preferably with some sort of sarcastic, passive-aggressive cookie bouquet."

Yuki giggled.

"Will do! Though, he'd probably appreciate it more if that cookie were soaked in rum or bourbon."

I didn't even have to think about it.

"He doesn't need the cookie at all, come to think of it."

Yuki snorted a laugh agreeing.

I sat beside Yuki on my meditation pillow in the center of our room. I could hear the sound of rain beginning to fall against the onsen's roof. It tapped against Shin'yume-sou's windows and the patio door like impatient fingers.

Our room smelled like old dust, fabric softener, and incense. It reminded me of someone else's memory. As though I were stepping back in time, to when Yuki and her parents visited here in the sixties, and this place were still fresh and alive.

"You ready to meditate?" Yuki asked me.

And I was.

A part of me really was, but I couldn't shake the strange feeling that I had.

"Yuki, what do you think of Skuzz's idea?" I asked. "I hate Skuzz. He'd disgusting, sleazy, and just talking to the guy makes me feel like I've got to take a shower for my soul. But… I can't say that he has a bad idea."

Yuki tilted her blonde head at me.

"You mean his night school for the undead?" she asked.

She thought for a moment.

"Ryu," she said. "I'll tell you this much. I think about that stupid school more than I let on."

She looked out the window where the steam was rising from the onsen.

"But I'm also scared of it for some reason."

She shook her head.

"That's not true. I know the reason I'm scared of it."

Then she turned and looked at me.

"It's the same reason it makes you nervous."

I knew exactly what she meant.

"Skuzz," I said.

His name rolled off my tongue like fresh dog crap hitting hot summer pavement.

Yuki scrunched up her nose as though she could smell the damn rotting zombie, and I couldn't blame her one bit.

"I get it," I said. "But that doesn't help us resolve the dilemma. What are we going to do about it?"

She reached out and I felt her put her ghostly hand on mine for a second. Then we both sighed when her hand floated through mine.

"Why won't we go to the Shin'yume Public Library tomorrow?" she asked.

I thought about that.

"You mean check it out ourselves?"

She nodded.

"Yes! It wouldn't hurt anything. Nothing says we need Skuzz to go with us or anything. Plus, if we want the school to be involved, I think we should go through Hina and not a rotting trash pile."

She had a brilliant point.

"Yuki," I said. "That's genius!"

She grinned in a way that reminded me entirely too much of one of Shion's smirks.

"I know," she said.

She said it with a smug little smile and the tiniest shoulder shake, just enough to remind me that being dead hadn't stopped her from learning how to flirt.

"So, you ready to meditate?" I asked her.

She looked to the left and then to the right.

Her blonde hair fell over her face, and I wondered what the hell she was doing.

Then, she leaned towards me, parted her hair with her hands and said "Boo!" and giggled.

"What the hell?" I asked.

"Ryu!" she said between giggles. "I'm haunting you!"

I could've kissed her right there.