Chapter 1
January 12th-13th
Victoria's P.O.V.
I stayed with Alex at first in Karakura Town. It took her forever to unpack, so I left to explore. Something felt weird about the town… there were more ghosts, for starters. With more ghosts came more masked creatures and more places to avoid. In America, I occasionally caught glimpses of people spirit things in black kimonos. They would kill the masked things with swords and leave to who-knows-where.
The town was pretty large. I would call it a small city, not a "town". There were some parks and a couple of schools. Alex would be going to one of the local high schools here, and I searched for it. When I found it, the school was not in session. I watched some of the classrooms for several minutes. There were no students, but teachers were preparing for the new semester, which would start tomorrow, the day after winter break ended. Alex would probably be fine after a few days, no matter how much she denied it.
As for myself, I really had nothing to do. I didn't have school to attend and I couldn't get a job. I could drive – I had had my license in America – but it wouldn't have mattered in Japan even if I was alive.
I did have a concern though. Over the last two years, my chain had been steadily growing shorter. Right after I died, it was about four feet long, and I would have to kinda carry it around. Now it was less than a foot in length. I didn't really want to think about what would happen when it reached the end. I had been chased by masked things a few times. All of them had a large hole located somewhere on their body… it was usually on their chest. The masked things were creepy. I had seen them eat other ghosts and it was not a fun thing to watch.
I shuddered and left the school. For the rest of the day, I wandered around and at nightfall, I headed back to Alex's apartment. She had bought some Pocky and was resting in her room, listening to music. Eating wasn't necessary for me, but I loved food. Food glorious food. I grabbed a box of Pocky and lay down on the couch. Sleeping was also not necessary, but like food, I enjoyed sleeping. I finished the Pocky and tossed the wrapper towards to the trashcan. I missed. Crap.
Sighing, I got up and placed the trash in its proper place. I took a blanket from the closet, bundled myself in it, and lay down on the couch. I closed my eyes and fell into sleep until the sun rose the next morning.
I stirred eggs around in the frying pan. Scrambled is how Alex preferred them. The poor girl couldn't cook to save her life, and I wasn't going to let her poison herself with her crappy cooking skills. Over the last two years, I had become a fairly good cook.
I put the eggs on a plate, which I then placed on the counter. Eggs, orange juice, and toast. Good enough.
Knowing that she wouldn't wake up on her own, I put my hands on my hips and yelled, "Alexxx!"
No reply.
"Get yo ass out of bed," I said loudly, putting on an accent. "You is going to be LATE!"
"You are not a black lady!" she screamed, still tired. "Stop trying to speak like one!"
"WELL, you're going to be late if you don't leave in 15 minutes," I sang. There was some scuffling sounds coming from her room, and she threw open the door. She was wearing her new uniform and her blue hair was tied in a messy ponytail. I handed her the plate of eggs, which she shoved into her mouth. She gulped down the orange juice and I tossed a bento box at her.
"Here's your lunch, Alexandra," I said. The special Victoria lunch, filled with yummy things. Whoop whoop.
"I told you to stop calling me that!" she yelled as she ran out the door.
I turned the sink on and began washing the dishes. I planned on leaving her alone at school. She needed to make new friends, as did I. I had had some other ghostly acquaintances back in America, but I wouldn't see them until Alex left Japan. I stuck the plate and cup into the dishwasher, and set the frying pan and utensils on a towel to dry.
Hmm…. What to do, what to do…. I could steal money to help pay for food and rent. I also wanted a laptop… with internet, games, and more importantly, Netlix. A coffee machine would be nice. One of the good ones that you put little plastic cup things in and that was easy to use. What if they didn't have them in Japan?
I pondered over this problem. I would have to get Alex to buy it… and I would have to give her money to buy it… what would that cost..? Hmm. I'll wait for now, and ask her when she returns. It was a good plan.
I wondered around in a mall until Alex's school day ended. I met her at the entrance to her school and asked her how her first day was.
"Good. I think I may have made a few friends," she said. Don't sound too excited, Alex.
"Cool! Do you want to buy some ice cream to celebrate your first day?"
"Is this just an excuse for me to buy you ice cream?" Alex, asked, and she narrowed her eyes at me.
"Why would you think that? I am appalled!" I said sarcastically, and I put my hands over my chest in a mock heart attack.
"I will take that as a yes." She replied. "Come on, I think I saw an ice cream shop on the way to school."
The ice cream was delicious. Alex bought a huge bowl of it, and I ate it outside. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate chip cookie dough – there were so many flavors. Alex had a few spoonfuls and then stopped, so I ate the rest for her.
When I finished, I suddenly felt on edge. The air felt heavy, and I shivered.
"Lets go home," Alex called as she turned to throw away our trash.
Something jerked me backward, and then I was rising into the air. I struggled to move as huge claws tightened around my body. I gasped, and with a sinking feeling I realized what it was.
Alex is still here. If she gets hurt, then –
Its deep roar interrupted my thoughts. It was a truly terrifying sound. I twisted my neck to look – just to make sure – and it punched its free hand into the ground. The masked creature opened its huge mouth to let out another roar.
I heard Alex scream something. My vision slowly faded to grey and I struggled to keep my eyes open. There was a flash of blue light and then – nothing.
Alex's P.O.V
I spent my first few days in Japan unpacking and preparing my apartment to be useable. Victoria hadn't been there in a while. She said I was taking too long to pack and left to explore the town. Sighing heavily, I finished unpacking the last box and proceeded to collapse to the floor.
"Maybe I should go get some food for the refrigerator," I said to myself as I lay sprawled out on my bedroom floor. Slowly getting up, I grabbed my wallet and left for the convenience store.
When I arrived, I quickly grabbed a basket and started looking through each aisle for anything that could be made into an edible substance. That is when I found the Pocky. I snatched every box that the store had, because although Victoria doesn't need to eat, she loves her Pocky. When I brought my overflowing basket up to the register, the cashier gave me a double take and started checking out my groceries. "Your pay 4000 yen."
I replied swiftly replied in fluent Japanese saying, "I can speak Japanese," and handed him the 4000 yen. He sighed in relief and thanked me as I left the store with my arms full of grocery bags. The sun began to set as I made my way home. The air was quite chilly. I shivered just as my apartment came in sight.
Then, I saw something move in the corner of my eye. I glanced behind me and saw someone in a black kimono hopping on the roofs of nearby buildings. I walked faster and arrived at my apartment panting slightly. I unlocked the door and let myself.
"What was that?" I asked myself. Looking out the window, I made sure that nothing was there. "I guess it was just my imagination." Snatching my groceries off the floor, I began putting food away in my kitchen.
Once I was finished with my kitchen, I began organizing my school stuff for tomorrow. Apparently, the winter break was ending today and tomorrow was the first day of the new semester. I was excited, yet not about the new school. I was hoping that I could make a good impression and actually have friends here. Hopefully, Victoria wouldn't do any stupid shit, but I knew that was asking for too much. Aw well. I should probably go to sleep now since tomorrow is going to be a long day. I curled up into a ball on my new bed and fell asleep to the sound of my iPod playing music.
"Alexxx!" Someone screamed throughout the small apartment, forcing me to burrow deeper into my covers.
"Get yo ass out of bed. You is going to be late!" Victoria yelled from the kitchen.
"You are not a black lady! Stop trying to speak like one!" I retorted back at her.
"Well, you're going to be late if you don't leave in fifteen minutes," she sang.
I could smell the aroma of eggs drifting from down the hall. I threw on my new uniform and brushed my long blue hair into a high ponytail. Checking myself one last time in the mirror, I nodded in approval, and grabbed my school bag.
Victoria, who was wearing the same thing she had been since she died, handed me my plate of eggs, which I swiftly scarfed down with a glass of orange juice.
"Here is your lunch, Alexandra," she said as she tossed me a bento box filled with unknown things.
"I told you to stop calling me that!" I yelled as I ran out the door.
Looking at my watch, I knew I had to pick up the pace in order to make it to class on time. I began jogging to the school, and when I turned a corner, ran into someone which knocked me to the ground.
"Are you okay?" a scowling boy around my age with orange hair asked.
"Yeah. I'm sorry. I should've been looking where I was going," I responded as I got up and quickly dusted myself off. I glanced at what he was wearing and I noticed we were wearing the same uniform.
"You are going to the same school as me, right?" I began. "I don't really know where it is, so could you point me in the right direction?"
"Sure. How about we walk together so you don't get lost?" he asked, looking at me as if I were some weird alien. "Are you from here? Or…"
"Oh! No! I just moved here from America. I'm an exchange student." I smiled up at him. "The name is Alex Kane!" I held out my hand for him to shake. He ignored it and kept walking. Okay… Rude, I thought to myself as I followed him to school.
We made it there with ten minutes to spare. "Thanks…"
"Ichigo, Kurosaki Ichigo."
"Thanks Ichigo," I responded, before going to the main office to get my schedule.
As I entered the room, a middle aged woman behind the desk asked, "Are you the new exchange student?"
"Yes. I'm Alex Kane."
"Okay sweetie! Here is your schedule. Follow the map of the school to find your homeroom."
I scanned the paper. My homeroom was in room 2-B. I found my class and stood outside. I took a deep breath and entered the classroom. Everyone froze as I walked inside.
The teacher standing in the front said, "You must be the new exchange student from America! Everyone this is…"
"Alex Kane."
"Please take care of Kane-san, if she needs any help, help her. Please take a seat over by that window," she said, pointing to the back of the classroom.
I nodded and found the seat. It was next to the window, which I was very grateful for because I was never really best at school. I would rather spend my time day dreaming than listen to a teacher talk about things I would probably never use for the rest of my life. The girl next to me would continually glance over at me, and she did so for the rest of the class period.
When lunch time started I was surrounded by people asking various questions about myself and America. The girl who sat next to me invited me to sit with her and her friends at lunch. I agreed and she brought me outside to sit next a tree where three other girls were sitting.
She introduced herself and her three friends. The girl who sat next to me had dark brown hair in two pigtails. Her name was Karin. Another girl from class 2-A with beautiful long, wavy, black hair was called Misaki, and the other two were identical twins from class 2-C. One had light brown hair with a short bob and the other with a long French braid. The one with the bob was Emiko and the one with the braid was Hana. All four girls talked about what they had done over break and asked me a few questions about myself.
"If you need any help finding anything or something like that, just find one of us and we will help you," Emiko said and she smiled at me. She seemed really kind and outgoing where as her twin sister Hana seemed calm and collected. Karin was funny and smart, and Misaki was the prankster of the group, she reminded of Victoria. They were all second years, like me, and I believed we would become good friends.
The rest of the day, I was bombarded with questions. Sometimes guys would ask me for my number or if I had a boyfriend, which at times annoyed me, but I kind of liked having normal people to talk to instead of my dead best friend. At the end of the day, Victoria was waiting by the school gates for me.
"How was your first day?" she asked when she noticed me approaching.
"Good. I think I may have made a few friends."
"Cool! Do you want to buy some ice cream to celebrate your first day?"
"Is this just an excuse for me to buy you ice cream?"
"Why would you think that? I am appalled!" she said sarcastically, and dramatically held her chest as if she was having a heart attack.
"I will take that as a yes," I replied. "Come on, I think I saw an ice cream shop on the way to school."
"Yay!" She immediately brightened. We made it to the shop and I ordered the largest size you could get. The person behind the counter looked shocked that I could eat that much, especially since I was pretty short, being a full 5". I grabbed the ginormous bowl and brought it to the table outside where Victoria was waiting.
"Here ya go," I said while placing the bowl on the table.
"Thank you, Alexandra!" she replied in a high pitched voice.
"Stop calling me that!" I exclaimed, knowing she would never stop calling me by that name.
Victoria ate most of the ice cream. I only got a few scoops before she had devoured it completely. I honestly didn't know where it went, since she was a ghost and everything. Normally, I don't even question it, because even when she was alive she ate more than any person I had ever met.
"Let's go home," I told her before I stood up and threw away her trash. When I turned to see if Victoria was behind me, I heard a huge roar vibrate through the air. In front of me was a huge black creature with a white mask, and tight in its grip was Victoria. It roared again and smashed its other claw into the ground.
"Victoria!" I screamed.
