I need to find Yato.

I could still taste vomit around the corners of my mouth. The night seemed darker than it was before. I had an inexplicable feeling that if I didn't do something now, I'd see a fate worse than death.

Trying to remember everything Yato had explained to me, I picked myself up and rushed to the school. About half an hour ago, I had left the school. Surely Yato would still be there.

"I use the powers of the undead to kill these spirits."

I ran faster. The faster I could get there, the more likely I could catch him if he was still in school.

"I have to form a contract with these undead, and it's not very common for a person to become undead…"

I was running faster than a track star. I could see the school now.

"I'd need a Regalia."

I burst into the school, which was now dark. Sprinting as fast as I still could, I almost broke the Paranormal Research club's door off its hinges.

Yato was seated at a table, which had taken the place of the chest of drawers from earlier. Yato's neck was bent over a journal, and he was scribbling something in it with a frown.

"Yato! I need to make a contract with you!" I cried, now out of breath.

He sighed. "Thanks to you, the club's budget got cut, and I'm still the only member."

"...Huh?"

"You look a little pale," he observed.

"Didn't you hear me?" I yelled. "I said I wanted to make a contract!"

"Oh, sure, just like the rest of them. Where's your hidden camera?"

"Yato, I'm dead!"

Yato turned all the way in my direction. "Yeah, like I haven't heard that one...oh."


"If you're going to form a contract with me, we're going to need an object to bind you to," Yato said, looking around the room.

"Bind?" I asked.

"Basically, we put your spirit in something. Preferably something we can use as a weapon. We can't go around beating up ghosts with a pillow, now can we?"

"I guess not…?" If anything, that at least made some kind of weird sense to me.

"We're going to have to be quick about this," he muttered, tapping his pockets. "You're not exactly fading slowly."

"Huh?" I looked down. I could see the outline of a hardwood floor through my shoe. Cold twinges of panic surged through me.

"Ah, but luck is on your side!" he announced. "Not only is the greatest Necromancer Yato here, but we have found something to bond you to!" Something in his hand glinted in agreement.

"A pocket knife?" I said in disbelief.

"Listen, do you want to become a ghost or something?"

"Not especially."

"Then repeat after me. 'I, whatever my name is…'"

"I, Yukine..." I echoed.

"'Wishing to remain in this world…'"

"Wishing to remain in this world…"

"'Hereby bind my soul to Lord Yato…'"

"Lord Yato?"

"Just say it."

I rolled my eyes. "Hereby bind my soul to Lord Yato…"

"'And bind my body to the object in his hand.'"

"And bind my body to the object in his hand."

I blinked. No flash of light, no cymbal crash, just me, but not see-through.

"I now name your bodily form: Yukine; and your spirit form: Sekki."

This time there was a flash of light. Yato looked at the pocket knife, and suddenly he was looking at me. I yelped.

"Don't panic," Yato said. "Your spirit is inside the knife."

"I-is this permanent?" I cried.

"No, no," he laughed. "You make an ugly pocket knife."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence." I muttered, and then I was out of the knife.

"You'll be in your human form most times," Yato explained. "The only time you'll be in the knife is when we have to fight ghosts. Just know that normal people can't see you in your human form, unless you make a really loud noise or something like that. If you remember, Tomone was making quite the racket earlier, but you never actually saw her leave."

I realized he was right. I just took it for granted that Tomone left, and I almost forgot about her completely afterwards.

"Anyway, now that you belong to me, your purpose is to hunt ghosts. Don't worry, though, I'm a good master." He smiled. "I've been doing this stuff since I was born."

"Since you were born?"

"Yeah. Necromancy might be a lost art, but I had the good fortune to be born to a family that still carries on the tradition. You're in good hands."

I felt something on the back of my neck. I thought for a second, and then realized what it was.

"Yeah, good sweaty hands."


We both slept in the club room that night. I don't think the school officials check the rooms anyway, although Yato was a good hider and they probably wouldn't find either of us unless they had a sixth sense for the undead.

When I woke up, it took me a little to realize what happened last night. My eyes widened. My family! They must be horrified!

I was an only child, but I was what my parents put the majority of their life into. To find their only child dead-it would kill them.

Yato was pushing the chest of drawers from yesterday over to the doorway. "It's free of spirits, just like you asked! I'm afraid one drawer was a little banged up in the confrontation, but it's still a quality chest for its condition!"

I sat, not knowing how to feel about the necromancer who seemingly didn't think that the little dead boy had parents, parents who were undoubtedly grief-stricken and desperate.

A voice from outside - probably the Philosophy club rep - said, "Thanks. Five yen, right?"

"You bet!" Yato beamed. The coin traded hands, the Philosophy club rep left with his chest, and Yato turned around, all smiles. "We're rich, Yukine! Rich! ...Hey, what's wrong?"

"Yato, it's my parents. They must be horrified! I have to let them know I'm okay!"

"...Oh. That." Yato looked away. "Figures. Yukine, I don't think you should see them. It's not going to be pretty."

"What is that supposed to mean? Why shouldn't I go see my parents? They're worried, and I'm going!" I ran out of the club room, not hearing what Yato said from behind me.


The last time I walked this route, I was killed.

What a surreal thought. All the streets seemed the same, like no boy had ever died here. Even the train showed cold indifference to the undead wandering around its stomping grounds.

My house looked the same on the outside, too, except for one thing. The door had been left unlocked in my parents' grief.

I opened the door and walked inside without taking off my shoes. Inside, my mother was crying on the sofa. My dad was trying to comfort her, but he didn't look much better. The air was thick with loss.

"Mom? Dad? It's me, Yukine."

No response. Mom kept crying.

"Hello?" I said louder. "It's me, Yukine!"

Nothing.

"Just know that normal people can't see you in your human form, unless you make a really loud noise or something like that."

Of course. "Mom! Dad! I'm alive!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Still nothing. My heart skipped a beat. That was the loudest I could muster. Why couldn't they -

"It's because you were too close to them. If someone believes you're dead, they can't see you."

I whirled. Yato stood in the doorway, looking at his pitiful undead servant, me.

"They're certain that you're not coming back," he continued. "If they saw you, it would break their minds. Then they would be dead."

"That's so cruel!" I screamed.

"It's life. I don't know what to tell you."

I was crying. Somewhere along the line, the tears had started and they certainly didn't seem like they would stop. "Then…" I choked out.

"Then tell me...tell me everything's going to be okay," I sobbed.

"I can't make a promise like that."

"It doesn't have to mean anything," I begged. "Just say it."

Yato stared at me with equal parts hesitation and pity.

"It's going to be alright."