CHAPTER ONE : BY A THREAD
PART ONE
Hello readers ! So this is my take on the continued adventures of Yuusuke and the gang. This fic is made of multiple arcs and takes place after the end of the manga. I'll try to expand on the ideas of the original manga while keeping in with the spirit of the world and its characters.
Please note : while there is no outright NC-17 content, this fic still deals with pretty difficult themes, among which mental illness and abuse, and combines horror elements with the adventure/mystery main genres. Chapters will have individual trigger warnings if necessary.
Other than that, please enjoy, leave a review… I know every fic tells you so, but every fic is right ! Leave a review, spread joy.
'' This is the place. This is where it happened. Are you ready to hear ? Are you ready to know ?''
"We are ready to hear. We are ready to know."
"You will not turn away. The eyes that are open, shall never close."
"Our eyes are open. Our eyes shall never close."
"Once there was a girl. Her name is forgotten. Her face faded away"
"Her name is forgotten. Her face faded away."
"Only her hair remain. Her silky hair, her joy, her pride."
"Her joy, her pride."
"She shall always get more. She will never be satisfied… Okay, Hideto, if you're not gonna take this seriously, you can just leave."
"Sorry, sorry ! You just have to admit, it's hard to say all this shit with a straight face ! Come on !"
"Just because you can get in the spirit – pun intended – doesn't mean you have to ruin it for everybody else."
"I'll be quiet, promise ! Let's just finish the chantey thing and get to the good part !"
"But no more interruption or I'll stop."
"Fine, fine."
"Okay, let's go from "her silky hair, her joy, her pride.""
"Her joy, her pride."
"She shall always get more. She will never be satisfied."
"Never, never, never, never."
"She will get a taste of your hair. She will slurp it through her teeth."
"Through her teeth, her sharp teeth."
"It will never be enough. She will take more."
"More, more, more, more."
"She will pluck your hair, one by one. At first, you will not notice. You will lose your hair, slowly, as if it had been falling off."
"One by one."
"And the day you turn around, and see her dangling by your hair… She will open her mouth and swallow you whole."
"Slurp slurp slurp slurp."
"Okay, who has the hair ?"
"I got it. Put it in a zip bag, hope it's okay, that thing's kinda gross."
"Where did you even get it ?"
"The gym locker-room, after she showered."
"Ew."
"Hey, what was I gonna do ? I wasn't gonna pull it from her head, I'm not a creep."
"It's fine, people. Let's just put the hair on the altar and get this over with."
"I'm not touching it."
"Then leave it in the bag ! Makes no difference !"
"Kay, here we go."
"We offer you this meal, you who roams hungry for hair. Taste it, and find your next victim."
"Protect us, as we feed you."
"Feast and leave us be. Take the black sheep and cleanse the herd."
"We offer her to you. We offer her to you."
"We offer her to you, Kedama-otome."
"Okay, now blow the candles."
"Aaand we're done."
"Cool, cause I don't know about you guys, but I haven't started studying for the geography test tomorrow."
"Urgh, thanks for reminding me."
"Why do we even need to learn geography ? It's like, here's a mountain, here's a sea, congrats, here's your diploma."
"I know."
"Stop complaining you nerds, I know you're still gonna pull an all-nighter to ace this thing."
"Guilty. Blame peer pressure."
"Totally ! Hey guys…"
"Yeah ?"
""Do you believe she might actually die ?"
"You've gotta be kidding me."
"Pork ramen, Urameshi, if you please."
"You know you can't pay me in markers, right ?"
"Fear not, I brought my heard-earned Japanese money. And if that takes the pressure off, I'm actually not here for the ramen – although I heard you're not so bad on that front."
"What pressure ? You can't grade me anymore, Take, have they told you that ?"
"Your oil is fuming."
"Shit."
"As I was saying, I was hoping to get to talk with you about your… other trade. I heard you can help people for a price."
"Okay, two questions : one, who told you about this, and two, how malleable is their face ?"
"It will become clear eventually. First, let me explain to you what lead me to seek your help."
"You want that in a bowl or a plate ?"
"Bowl, thank you Urameshi. So as you know, school started again a few months ago at Sarayashiki junior high, and like every year, I've been putting together the tutoring program for students who are struggling, either mark- or behaviour-wise."
"Ah yeah, Keiko did that before leaving for college. If it's about getting her info…"
"Well as it happens, this year I've decided to do something a little… different. Instead of getting students who were already exemplary when they were with us – like, say, Yukimura – to tutor our troubled elements, I wanted to try a different approach : getting students who were themselves in a difficult position when they were in middle school, but have since strived and achieved their goals."
"You mean getting people these kids might actually connect with instead of your usual goody-two-shoes ? Woah, what a revolutionary approach, Take, are you ready for that Order of the Rising Sun ?"
"Do you want to feel smart or do you actually want me to get to the end of this story ?"
"If that's about recruiting me for your little afterschool program, answer's no. I wouldn't want to do it if you paid me… it's not a paid gig, is it ?"
"No."
"Rats."
"Indeed, I thought of you at first. But I actually reached out to the more obvious choice first, and he confirmed me that you wouldn't be interested. Salt ?"
"On your right. That idiot. Of course he'd enjoy something like that."
"Kuwabara was very enthusiastic about joining the tutoring program. I'm very impressed with his success. He turned into the exceptional kid I always knew he could be."
"Which brings us back to the age-old question : why the hell are you here now ?"
"As I said, I wasn't going to contact you for the program. But a month ago, we got our first one."
"On the edge of my seat here."
"Youkai monster. I mean – demon. I… don't know how you're supposed to call them to be polite. Everything seems designed to be offensive."
"Wait. You got a youkai student ? At Sarayashiki ?"
"First one in the district. She enrolled in February, our board made quite a fuss about it. It was in the local papers."
"Aw, that's why I missed it, I only read international news."
"The point is, I think she's a sweet… person. But she's not doing so great. Grades are fine, but she keeps to herself, she's completely isolated, and keeps getting into… incidents. With the other students. Teachers, including myself, have tried to engage with her, but we're getting nowhere. It's hard to know what she understands or not."
"That was actually offensive."
"Don't be daft. You know what I mean. I don't know if she's fine or not with the way things are. From a human's perspective, she's being shunned and bullied. But she doesn't seem to want to react, and she's not talking to anyone. I was hoping… you could give it a try."
"The other students are being assholes, so SHE's the one who needs tutoring ?"
"Knowing you, there would be very little tutoring done in the process. All I want is for her to have someone she's comfortable sharing with. There's a lot of fear and ignorance going around, and most of it is on us to fix. But she has a part to play too. She can't just show up and expect everyone to accept her if we don't even know who she is and what she wants."
"Have you considered she might just want to be treated like everybody else ?"
"But she isn't like everybody else, is she ?"
"…"
"And neither are you. You never were. Listen, Urameshi, I might not know much about her, and youkai, or whatever they are, but I know teaching. I know students. I know "troubled" is often just a mixture of lonely, scared, and misunderstood. I wasn't wrong about you then, and I'm not wrong about her now. But I'm not the right person to reach out to her, just like I wasn't the right person to reach out to you. I want to believe you are. Will you do this, Urameshi ? Will you do this one thing for me ?"
"Geez okay, I'll do it, else I'm afraid next you'll propose to me or something."
"Thank you. I knew I could count on you. Where do I put the bowl ?"
"Leave it, I'll take care of it."
"Tutoring is every Tuesday at three. You remember where the study rooms are. The student's name is Fuyumi. She'll be waiting for you. I must be going now. And Urameshi ?"
"What now ?"
"Those were some excellent ramen."
The sound of Takenaka's footsteps were lost to the night. Behind his stand, Yuusuke watched his red-painted awnings flutter lightly in the evening wind. Oil was still sizzling on the metal pan.
"Fuck. Shit. Fuck."
The building wasn't much to look at. It was a solid hour away from the beating heart of the city, and despite harbouring a definitively eighties flare, it was already looking on the side of decay. A pathetic attempt at a communal front lawn with only a few twigs in pots and a not exactly green grass patch to show for itself was welcoming the tenants. The security meanwhile was decent. This, she had insisted on. You make things change, you create something new, not everybody is going to be happy. You won't always be there to guard the place. I need to feel safe in my own home. So now he had this stupid badge thingy he always misplaced, which some nights left him with no choice but to scale the side of the building and gently tap on the living room window hoping she would be home. He sometimes wondered what normal people did in this situation. Funny how he had lost the ability to put himself in a normal person's shoes. He stepped into the lobby. Well, "lobby", with quotations marks as big as the decorative pillars designed to make the entrance look impressive, but just made it a hassle to get a couch inside the elevator. He could still see the etchings on the side of the pillar from when he'd decided he was too annoyed to be delicate with the furniture. Up to the third floor. Down the hallway with the orange – or "ochre" as the designer had certainly called it – carpeting that wouldn't have marred in the Shining. Left door. Open. Close. And there it was.
Home. His home. His first home.
"Hey there."
She was hunched over the living room table, books and papers everywhere, and she hadn't looked up to greet him. After taking off his shoes and putting them in the entrance cabinet - why are we getting a furniture whose whole purpose is literally the same as the floor ? Because it will look nice in the entrance, it will be inviting for the guests, and I will be able to tell people that even if he brushes elbows with the scariest monsters in creation, only I can get Yuusuke Urameshi to buy a shoe cabinet ! - he stepped on the wood flooring and made his way to her, then placed a kiss on top of her hair.
"I made a cabbage salad, tasted it, it was terrible, I threw that away, found some teriyaki sauce and beef so I made that. Help yourself, I have to finish annotating this course."
"I keep telling you I could simply eat at the stand."
"And I keep telling you I need to learn to get by in a kitchen somehow, and there's no one except you I can subject to my cooking."
"Because I'm your boyfriend or because I'm a near-immortal being ?
"Go eat, you idiot."
He circled around the countertop that separated the open kitchen from the rest of the living room and found the plate covered with aluminium foil on the stove. Looking up from this point in the room, he had a sweeping view of the entire apartment. Across the countertop, the living area was occupied by a corner sofa whose short arm was against the bar and longer arm against a wall which they had decorated with vintage posters they'd found for sale at an arcade. The couch had been their biggest spending ; the rest of the furniture, from the glass coffee table to the dinner table that was really just a plank propped on two trestles, to their bed even, were either donations from friends or second-hand thrifts. But they'd gotten the big couch for the same reason they'd gotten the shoe cabinet : it made it look like a real place, where people really lived and received their friends. Which, when you were young and clueless about how to be an adult, was pretty much what you aspired to. In front of him, a ceiling-high window opened on a small balcony that had been left bare for the time being – neither him nor Keiko being particularly dedicated gardeners – but Kurama had sworn to swing by sometime to remediate this inacceptable state of affairs. On his right, first was the entrance space, then immediately on the left the door to their room, and then another door, to another room. He would not have admitted it to Keiko, but this was really the thing that had made him say yes to this place, even though they could barely afford it with Keiko's scholarship and his revenue from the ramen stand and various dealings. They had visited smaller places that would have fitted their needs fine, but there was something about having a second room that just appealed to something deep within him. He'd never lived in a house where they had a second room. Even in the fancier place his mother had eventually moved into, he'd always taken the one room, and she would sleep in the living space. And now look at that ! He could have someone stay for the night and they would not have to sleep on the couch ! They could sleep in a real bed, in a real room ! Because it was his house, and in his house, they had a second room ! Yes it was small, mostly used for storage, and the bed they'd gotten for that room was Yuusuke's old bed, which had never really recovered from Sensui's Reyko-Reshuken blast and still exuded a deliciously crispy smell, but it was a second bed, dammit, because in Yuusuke's house, that was the life they led. That was the life he wanted to lead.
"What are you thinking about ?"
Keiko had propped her head on her hand, still holding a pen, and was looking at him, smiling.
"I got a visitor at the stand today. Takenaka."
"From middle school ? How is he ? What did he want ?"
"He's old. And he wanted me to tutor a youkai student for some stupid program he came up with."
"Did you agree ?"
"Yeah. And I seriously have no idea why."
"Oh Yuusuke."
She was outright grinning now.
"You agreed for the same reason you ever agree to anything. Because that's actually what you want to do, and you're just waiting for someone to ask you so you can act as if they forced you to do it."
"Why would I want to pep talk some young version of me into making stupid friends and getting good grades at a school I hate, like it's a good thing ?"
"I'm not the one you have to ask that to, am I ?"
"I never got tutored when I was in school, and I did fine."
"Isn't this exactly why you're doing this ? Because there's some part of you wondering if things could have been easier for you at that time if you'd actually gotten someone like you to talk with ?"
"I hate it when you get all deep with me."
"Look, all I know is that you're great with kids, and like it or not, you're actually not bad a teacher. This kid could benefit from meeting you, and you could use some time away from the stand. How much is Takenaka paying you ?"
"Shit, I didn't ask."
"Well, talk to him about it, maybe it will help you see this all this like a job. It's not all winning tournaments and saving the universe, sometimes it's just helping a young youkai getting themselves together."
"I like bad guys who want to blow up the universe. It's simple with them."
"And I'm sure one will turn up soon. But in the meantime, that's what you get."
"Hm. I'm going to bed, you're coming ?"
"In a short bit. Just finishing up here."
"Don't stay up too late, I don't want to have to shake you awake in the morning again."
"That was one time !"
"And I will make sure you never forget about it ever."
She threw her eraser at him. He raised his arm in mock protection.
"I love you."
"Me too, me too."
"Will you marry me ?"
"Nice try."
He opened the panel to his room, still plunged in darkness. A ray of artificial light penetrated the space between his feet. With one last glance at her, he slid the panel shut.
Some places are just bad. Not unpleasant, not dismal, just plain bad. In the sense that nothing good could ever come out of frequenting them, being in them or living in them. It was at least what Yuusuke was thinking when he crossed the threshold to Sarayashiki Junior High School for the first time in some four years. It's not that he had been afraid to pass by the place, it's just that he never had the occasion ; why would he need to come back there ? In any case, the place was just as unpleasant, dismal and bad as he remembered. A rectangular building with a mosaic façade that just made the entire thing look like a bathroom wall, a central clock whose stone had turned grey even by the time Yuusuke was in school, and a concrete playground with almost erased markings for gym class. The only element of note in the yard was a rather luxuriant camellia tree on the right whose branches reached almost to the second floor of the school. Keiko's favourite spot to read during break, Yuusuke recalled. He had been more of a roof man himself, the proximity of nature always somehow making him feel like he was in enemy territory – and even more so since he had met Kurama. Aside from that, the place was utterly devoid of charm. This was no one's dream middle school. No parent wistfully told tales to their children of the time they were in Sarayashiki junior high. No, this was the kind of place you stayed in until they told you you could leave. And for Yuusuke, that had been the second he had had his diploma in hand.
Study rooms were near the library, on the second floor. Right pass Yuusuke's old homeroom, because of course they were. Yuusuke straightened his neck, ready to pass by without even a glance inside. There was the spot he'd shot his first Reigun at Iwamoto. Funny, when he thought about it, that his grand debut had been to get back at an asshole teacher and not against some life-threatening demon. Almost prophetic, in a way. When they'd met to discuss compensation, Takenaka had told Yuusuke Iwamoto had left to teach in a private school when it had been announced public schools would be accepting youkais. It was comforting somehow to know that some assholes were just assholes in every way.
"Urameshi ! I knew you'd come !"
Oh. Right.
Watching Kuwabara wave at him from the entrance of the study, Yuusuke if he had been too harsh thinking nothing good had ever come of him attending Sarayashiki. Some part of him, however, replied that he and this idiot would have crossed paths somehow ; as if their meeting was inevitable. But he didn't know how much that part of him was trying to reassure itself.
"When Takenaka told me the problem he had with his new student, I told him I was sure you'd accept to give him a hand ! And I was right !"
"Yeah, thanks a lot, you moron. I wanted nothing more than a reason to come back to this place."
"You know it's weird, you always see people in shows going back to their school and thinking how small it looks, but I think it looks as dreadful as ever."
"A shithole remains a shithole, no matter if you've taken a bath or not."
"Yeah, but I mean, it's more than that. Last time I was there, my powers weren't that developed. But right now, lemme tell you, this place is absolutely crawling with spooky energies. No wonder a youkai would feel comfortable here."
"Yeah, somehow I don't think I'm gonna talk to her about that."
"Wait, it's a girl ? Damn, I should have said yes when Takenaka asked me to tutor her."
"You mean he asked you first ?"
"Alright, tutors."
Takenaka appeared in the hallway.
"The students you'll be accompanying are installed in the study, with enough space to give you privacy to talk. If I can give you a bit of advice, most of these kids see us as enemies. Just remember what you would have wanted to hear from us when you were in their place."
Yuusuke, Kuwabara and a dozen other people entered the room at Takenaka's command. When Yuusuke passed him by as he was holding the door, he whispered to him :
"Last student on the right."
He shouldn't have bothered. The second Yuusuke saw her, he knew.
She was inhumanly beautiful. Her black hair were cut to her shoulders, and lightly stuck up at the extremity. Her pink lips were posed like a budding rose on her pale skin. Her hooded eyes were a profound red, but unlike Hiei or Yukina's identic eyes, this was not an inviting, expressive red, but something secret, hidden, and protected. If you only gave her a passing glance, she did look the part of an ordinary fourteen years old. But any once-over would immediately give her away as something else. The school uniform seemed something she could shed at any moment to reveal her real skin. And for all he knew, she might. This would not be easy.
"Hey."
She raised her eyes to meet his, indifferent and almost lordly.
"I'm gonna assume Take already gave you the usual pep talk, offered you tea or some shit and told you he knows you can do great here. I gotta admit something : I have no idea if it's true. Maybe you're just a shitty kid, or maybe you're gonna have a shitty childhood for no other reason that you're shit out of luck. I dunno. But I know that if there's some shit you actually want to talk about, I can listen. I'm usually better at talking. But I can try."
"You say shit a lot."
Her voice was exactly like her. A breeze whose origin you couldn't quite determine, that rustled you lightly and made you feel perpetually on edge.
"Well, tough shit. And since we're on confessions : I have no idea how this tutoring thing is supposed to work. I can barely learn things on my own, I certainly have no idea how to teach them to someone else. My girlfriend says I'm a great teacher, but I mostly teach people lessons by pummelling at them."
"What is your girlfriend like ?"
"She's really smart. Kind of a smartass too, but without being mean. Proud. She takes no shit from anyone. She still refuses to marry me."
"Why ?"
"Wish I'd knew. Maybe it's because she doesn't like doing things just because she's told to, or maybe she's afraid I'll leave again at some point."
"Will you ?"
"No."
"Good. Things shouldn't leave the place where they belong."
"Where do you belong ?"
"I'd like to think I belong here."
"When did you move from Makai ?"
"Six months after the passage opened. My family passes as human, so our relocation happened pretty quickly. It's harder for those with prominent demonic features."
"And why on earth would you want to go to school ? And more importantly, why would you want to come to THIS school ?"
"Because Urameshi Yuusuke went there."
He had been unprepared. Kurama had told him his name was more closely tied to the new world order than he liked to think, but he rarely encountered tangible signs of his fame.
"Lemme get this straight. You went there in hopes of meeting me ?"
"No. I had no idea they would ask you to come talk to me."
"Then why…"
"The morning I first went to school, there were parents at the gate. Holding signs. Shouting things. Eventually, the parents left. But their children stayed. Shouting at me. Writing on my desk. Because I'm the first one. Because "I don't belong". But then I walk these halls, I sit at those desks, and I tell myself, I'm not the first one. Because Urameshi Yuusuke went there. And I feel better."
Her expression had barely changed as she was talking. There was no trace of emotion in her eyes, no sign of the effect everything she described had on her. This painted an eerie portrait, as if a movie had ended up with the wrong subtitles, and you were simultaneously trying to make sense of what was said and what was on the screen.
"Takenaka said he didn't know if what was happening was affecting you or not. I guess it does, but I'm not sure there's anything more I can do. You seem to have it covered."
"They are affecting me. But I'm also affecting them."
"What do you mean ?"
"Don't you feel it ?"
He remembered Kuwabara's words. This place. Crawling with spooky energies. Hardly a surprise.
He slightly jolted. She had placed her hand on his wrist.
"Things belong where they belong, Urameshi Yuusuke. But sometimes they don't belong together."
Her eyes were very close now.
"Find what does not belong. Before it takes them all."
"You have to give me a little more than that to go on…"
"I don't have anything else. There's poison in the water, infiltrating the soil. Impossible to tell where it comes from, yet you feel it everywhere. And soon nothing will live."
"And you're saying it's here ?"
"Yes. I don't know what it is. I only see its effects. Humans bear the symptoms. But I don't know the disease, therefore I don't know its cure. Maybe you'll have more luck than me, detective."
"You lied. You knew I'd come here."
"I know the sunflower finds the light. I know you'll find the trouble. After all…"
She stood up and got a hold of her bag.
"You are Urameshi Yuusuke. You made this world."