I sat down on the steps beside Shion. The concrete was cold, even through the fabric of my uniform pants. The sky had begun to fade from powder blue to orange lined with pastel pink, one of those weirdly perfect Shin'yume sunsets that looked like Van Gogh painted it during a manic break with Bob Ross providing encouragement.

I didn't care that the front steps of Black Withers Hall stunk of rotting leaves, mildew, and dust.

I just sat.

I leaned back against the wall. Let the school's shadow crawl up my spine.

I shut my eyes, and reached out, and touched her hand.

Cold, lifeless, Shion.

I intertwined my fingers, but I knew I was just stalling. Finally, I shook my head and looked into her lifeless eyes.

"Hey, can we just say like this forever? I mean, not with you frozen, Christ, that's not what I mean."

I shook my head, angrily. Why was I so bad at this?

"I'm sorry. You deserve someone better, and I guess you're stuck with me. I'm not good at this. You know that, though. It's why you make fun of me all the time."

I blinked. And some tears formed in the corners of my eyes.

"But I'm not leaving you, Shion. I don't care. I can't. And Yuki, hell, everyone else thinks I'm crazy."

I squeezed her hand. And I leaned closer.

"Maybe I am, but I don't care. You get us, right? I mean," I felt my voice growing tight, cracking.

And I leaned against her dead body, feeling the tears crawling back up.

"You know, don't you? I mean, what we are? Don't make me say it."

I tried to imagine her giving me absolute hell for saying something so stupid to her, but I didn't know how I was supposed to fix her.

Then I saw the tips of her fangs poking out beneath her dry lips. And I nodded to myself, willing to try anything.

"Okay. Damn you, of course you'd make this hurt in every way possible. That's just so your style, Shion."

I rolled up my sleeve, put my arm in her mouth as much as I could, and I took a deep breath as I pushed upwards against her fangs until I felt them puncture the skin.

I made sure the blood oozed into her mouth. I wiggled my wrist, painting her fangs red.

"Come on," I whispered. I felt the air around me growing cooler as the sun dipped into the cold northern Pacific.

The air stung my neck. Shion's fangs stung my wrist, but I didn't care.

I had a friend to save.

And a moment later, I watched as her throat flashed. Her fingers wrapped around my wrist.

Her chest shuddered once, like her body was remembering how to be alive.

"Yes!" I said.

Her lips pressed against my skin, and I stared to laugh as I heard the sucking noise she made.

My stomach squirmed as she drank my blood, but I didn't care. I started running my fingers through her soft, black hair and held her against me.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Oh my god, you're okay!" I said between fits of nervous laughter.

And she stopped drinking and nodded slowly.

"Blondie…" she said after a moment.

She looked up at me. My blood was dark red around her mouth.

"You were asking me what I know earlier?" she tilted her head slightly, before shoving my shoulder.

"I know you're a dumbass, okay?"

The wind howled down the empty corridor, rattling old banners against the broken windows.

The academy groaned around us.

I was supposed to be at Shin'yume-sou. I was supposed to be helping out. Working off my rent. Being responsible.

But instead I was here, watching the sun bleed across the sky like someone had taken a brush to the clouds.

I looked at Shion.

She shook her head.

"Don't ask," she said. "Because I'm neither alive, nor am I okay."

She looked at me for a second. Then she scooted closer, and slowly, like she was asking for permission, she put her head against my shoulder.

And I put my arm around her.

I heard her take a breath.

"And to top it all off, I'm with you, of all people," she said. "And I think that's why this works, Blondie."

Eventually, Shion looked up at me and smirked.

"You'd better get going. The woods around the school can get creepy at night I've heard," she said.

I nodded, remembering Yuki giving me a similar warning on my first day here.

"You goin—"

"Ugh!" she interrupted me, rolling her eyes.

Then she sat up, trying to suppress a grin.

"Stop asking me if I'm going to be okay, Blondie. I died in 1994, okay?"

She looked off to the side.

I gave her a tired nod.

"I've got to get back to the onsen or Hibana will kill me."

I stood up and offered Shion my hand. She gave me a look, arching one of her eyebrows. But she took my hand.

Then she held it and looked at my wrist where she'd bitten me.

She took a long, deep breath, and she brought my hand to her cheek, and she shut her eyes, pressing her cheek against my hand.

It was so cold against my warm hand.

She kept her eyes closed, but I knew if she were capable of producing tears that my palm would have been wet.

"I know what you are," she whispered. "So, just keep your stupid mouth shut, okay? And don't you dare tell anyone."

Then her eyes opened. Fierce and green.

For me.

And she took another breath.

"But I know what we can't ever be. Let's stay like this forever."

She kissed the palm of my hand with her rough, dry lips, and my heart skipped a beat.

"Now, get the hell out of here before I do something we'll both regret. No words from you. Shakespear wouldn't know what to say."

I turned and walked away, but before I left I had to say something.

"What do you think Austen would've said?"

"Oh, you bastard."

The path down the hill stretched out in front of me.

The woods swayed on either side, thick and black, swallowing up the last bleeding light from the sky.

I shoved my hands deep into my pockets, clutching the memory of her kiss like it might keep me warm.

It didn't.

Barely ten minutes had passed, and I was already nostalgic about holding a dead girl against me.

And the night air was colder than it should've been.

To make matters worse, I also missed my ghost, and I had no idea how the hell I was supposed to feel about any of that.

I passed an old cigarette vending machine at the edge of the woods. No power. Just a rusty box with faded brands nobody sold anymore. I stood there a second, breathing.

The cut on my wrist itched. I wiped the blood on my pants and stared at the machines like they might give me something that could help.

Nothing came. Just a breeze, colder than it should've been. I shoved my hands back in my pockets and kept walking.

In front of me, from my vantage point on the hill, I could see the twisting neon lights of Shin'yume, the city.

Across from it, Shin'yume-sou blinked in and out of view through the trees. It had its own grungy neon signs promising salvation. 5000 yen for one night, 50 years of regret. A bargain you only recognize after it's too late.

I had almost made it to the konbini, and that's when I caught it again.

Faint, but undeniable: the sting of lemon and ginger.

My heart kicked against my ribs once, like a warning shot, and I stopped walking.

Murasaki was out there, somewhere, and I needed help.

"Yuki?" I asked, looking around for my most faithful and reliable companion.

No. She was watching movies with Azuki and wouldn't be back until later.

I was reaching down, to put my palms against the ground because I couldn't feel anything around me.

And that's when I felt the wind above me. A loud "whoosh" came from above, blowing the dust and gravel from the path and the side of the road everywhere.

I threw my arms up instinctively, but she already had me.

Murasaki's hands wrapped around my chest and lifted me off the forest path and into the air.

Before I knew what was happening, I saw the ground below me growing further as she flew into the sky, and I was in her clutches.

Her enormous bat-like wings flapped hard to keep us aloft.

And I was screaming.

"Shhhh, darling," she said, taking us higher.

I could see the tops of the trees, and I felt lightheaded.

"Oh, you poor human," she said, giggling.

"You never look up."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.