I spotted Hibana at the front desk, hunched over the ancient POS computer, her expression a mask of barely-contained fury. The blue light from the screen flickered against her face, making her scowl even more intense.
I was just glad she was mad at something besides me for once.
"This stupid thing! I swear to god, if it freezes one more time—!" She slammed her palm against the side of the monitor like that might make it behave.
I smirked. "Maybe it's just scared of you."
Hibana shot me a death glare. "Oh, good. The baka. Just in time to make things worse. I was hoping you were Natsumi."
She sighed through her clenched teeth. "You wanna try fixing this thing, smart guy? Be my guest. What's the worst you can do, Ryu? Make it explode? If it took you out with it, it'd be a blessing in disguise."
Despite her usual hostility, she moved aside just enough to let me get a look.
I took a deep breath, sat down, and looked to see how bad the damage was.
It was worse than I thought. The keyboard? So old the plastic was faded and off-color. Half the keys had their letters worn off a decade ago. The spacebar perpetually stuck, and it was full of crumbs.
But… sitting in front of a computer made my memories stir. Long nights back in West Virginia, half-asleep at my laptop, clicking through outdated software, and barely passing my online computer courses.
I was far from a star pupil, but I did learn some things. At least I knew enough about computers to get their POS up and running. It'd just take some time on this relic.
"Alright, let me see if I remember anything useful," I muttered.
Hibana scoffed. "Oh, right. I forgot I'm sitting next to Bill Gates-san."
I turned slightly, not wanting her to know how irritating I thought she was. "Just let me do my thing. This poor computer looks like it uses dial-up internet."
She winced. "If your 'thing' is being a world-class baka, then you're brilliant."
She started walking away, but then she stopped and turned. I braced myself for whatever wonderful thing Hibana was going to say next.
"But since you're actually trying to help for once, I guess I can bring you something from the kitchen."
I almost dropped the mouse. "…thanks."
By the time Hibana returned, I'd downloaded several badly needed updates. It was far from perfect, but it was functional.
Hibana folded her arms, unimpressed. "Huh. You actually did something right. Guess miracles do happen."
"Don't get used to it. Yuki's secretly a software engineer."
I felt the ice in Hibana's glare. "Don't bother Yuki, okay? It's bad enough she follows you around like a lost puppy. Gah, if I had to follow you around, you'd better believe I'd make for the other side pronto, baka."
Hibana set a tray of food on the counter beside me.
"Here." She turned to walk away.
I grabbed one of the rice balls and began nibbling, but I wasn't about to let her off the hook that easily.
"Hibana, what do you have against me anyway?" I asked.
She kept her back to me. I saw her shoulders tense immediately.
'You- you're- you're just a dumb baka, okay?!'
Her voice wavered—just for a second.
'Leave me alone!'
She huffed loudly. Then she paused, as though she wanted to say something else.
But didn't. Instead, she stormed off and slammed the door behind her.
"Ryu," I heard Yuki say. "You're being watched. Again."
She pointed behind me.
I turned and saw – in the shadows. Natsumi.
"How long have you been there?" I asked.
She grinned, lazily, as she sauntered out of the shadows, putting one nearly weightless foot in front of the other. I watched as her muscles rolled, beautifully, but with an inhuman, feline grace, as she stepped forward.
Natsumi didn't answer. She didn't even blink. Just tilted her head slightly, like a cat studying something interesting. Then, as if deciding I wasn't worth the effort, she turned and walked away—silent. Effortless.
"Oh, that's not creepy at all," I said.
And she stopped. Slowly looked back over her shoulder at me, and smirked.
"Mmmrrrrwwwwll, that went just splendidly," she purred.
Wait… did her pupils just get wider?
No.
Her pupils flickered, narrowing to slits for just a second before she disappeared.
…was Natsumi swaying?
Yuki floated beside me, looking thoughtful. "She's been watching you all night, y'know. I didn't wanna say anything, but yeah. She's just been… watching."
I pinched the bridge of my nose and groaned. "I mean… she's a cat, right? Maybe she's just curious."
"Or maybe you smell like a bowl of fresh milk."
"Not helping, Yuki."
Then, something soft brushed against the back of my neck, and I almost jumped out of my seat.
I turned—but she was already there.
Natsumi's tail curled lazily around my shoulder. I could feel its warmth.
Close. Too close.
She leaned in, blinking. A smirk.
"Psst. You."
She paused, our noses nearly touching.
"Follow Natsumi."
She led me through the onsen's narrow, winding halls. The old, brass-mounted lights needed polishing. They flickered, white and yellow, as we walked past.
The air in this hallway felt thicker – heavy with old incense and damp with the onsen's moisture. Natsumi ignored everything, the lights, the air. I heard the wooden floor creak with every step I took… but not Natsumi.
Her footsteps were so light, I could scarcely feel them though the floor. I noticed other details as well. My fifteen-year-old eyes keenly aware of how she exaggerated the way her hips rolled with each step.
"My-oh-my, but this place has gone downhill," said Yuki. "What's happened? I know I don't come this way very often but-" then she saw the way Natsumi was walking in front of me.
"Hmph," I heard Yuki say. "She's doing that on purpose. You don't normally walk that way, Natsumi. You're just trying to impress Ryu."
In response, Natsumi yawned… and then she threw her arms back and stretched, a mischievous smirk growing across her face as the bottom of her cutoff tank top slowly crept upwards.
"Ryu! Don't you dare look!" yelled Yuki.
Oh no.
I clamped my eyes shut, but it was already too late.
A pause. A cough.
"Nyyyyaa, Natsumi doesn't care if the American-jin likes what he sees."
"What are you doing, Natsumi?"
Natsumi stopped in front of a door.
Janitor's closet.
"Natsumi's just showing the American-jin where he works." She crossed her arms looking deadpan. "What did you think Natsumi was doing?"
With a flourish of her tail, Natsumi sauntered back down the hallway.
I turned to Yuki, still processing everything that had happened.
"She's not usually like that," Yuki said.
An hour later, I finished my shift, exhausted. I had a whole list of jobs—checking rooms, making sure no guests were unhappy, trying to avoid another encounter with Hibana. But no matter what I did, I kept catching Natsumi out of the corner of my eye.
Never speaking.
Never interacting.
Just watching.
Even when fifteen-year-old me wasn't looking at her, I could feel her nearby. Like an itch just under my skin.
I pretended like she wasn't there. Ignored her. Had to.
Otherwise? It'd mean actually considering what the hell she wanted, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. I had enough to deal with already.
I wish Yuki could have drug me up the dark, creaky stairs to our room.
But she couldn't. So I had to.
Halfway up the stairs I realized I'd been expecting my knees to hurt.
Nothing.
No back pain either.
I ran up the stairs.
"Ryu?" Yuki asked, hurrying up to float by my side.
"It's okay, Yuki," I said, unlocking our door.
She floated through the wall and joined me inside.
I lay on the floor, palms flat.
"Oh no. Not this again," she said.
"No, I'm going to try something different," I said. I began to do push ups.
Around forty five, I heard Yuki whistle.
"I didn't know you could do that many!" she said, impressed.
"Yeah, me either," I said. "But it's not nearly enough if I'm going to fight an orc. He was leaving Crescent Moon Academy right after I did, Yuki. And he wasn't alone either."
She floated beside me. She reached out to put her hand on my shoulder, and audibly gasped when she watched it go though my shoulder.
Normally, it'd be funny. But seeing the look, the sadness in her eyes when she'd meant to comfort me only to realize that she's already supposed to have passed on.
She looked at her hand like it failed her but then shook her head.
"Ryu… you're not going to like my suggestion…"
"I'm getting used to not liking a lot of things, Yuki. Let's hear it."
"Hibana-;"
"No."
"No, you listen," she said.
I sat up. It was the most I'd ever seen Yuki push back against anyone.
"She wakes up early every morning to train, Ryu," Yuki floated beside me and knelt down. I could see her beautiful, ice-blue eyes in front of me. The cold air around her strangely comforting and contrasting with the threatening warmth of one of Natsumi's tails.
"If you told her why you wanted her help, she'd help you. She's sworn to protect humans from yokai, like Ken."
I almost scoffed. I hated Hibana's mercurial attitude… but I hated Ken more.
And Hibana lived a floor below me.
"That's…" I sighed. This was still tough. "That's actually a good idea," I forced myself to say.
I heard Yuki's soft gasp and she was beaming.
"Really? You mean it? You think I had a good, a helpful idea? Oh, Ryu, that's so groovy! Yaaaay!"
I laughed and I reached out to playfully shover her shoulder.
And I pushed Yuki back—just a little. Then I gasped.
I'd touched a ghost.